


Ninja Wizard Book 4

by mad_fairy



Series: Ninja Wizard: The Adventures of Harry Potter, Dimensional Traveler [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-01 22:05:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 146,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10930959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mad_fairy/pseuds/mad_fairy
Summary: Harry and Tom return from their adventures and begin making plans to transport the wizards to a new world in a year's time.





	1. Summer Solstice

**Author's Note:**

> Here were are, another installment. Updates will probably be slower this time around, as I've been going over it and will be editing before posting. As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!  
> Seriously, don't be shy--love it, hate it, fairly indifferent, I'd like to hear what you think.  
> Now, on with the show.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Tom return from their adventures and rejoin the time stream and enact their plan to move the wizards to a new world, only to run into resistance right from the start.

“Chamber of Secrets…so far so good.” Harry said with some relief as they stepped out of the gateway.

“Do you hear something?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, I do. Quick, everyone under.”

Harry, Tom, Nagini and Hedwig had just gotten under the cloak and been hidden from view when the door opened and another Harry entered. They watched, transfixed, as he pulled a timeturner from beneath his shirt and disappeared.

When he was gone, the four of them came out from under the cloak.

“Just one last check to make, but so far it looks like we’re in the right universe.” Harry explained.

They headed out of the Chamber and Tom watched curiously as Harry wandered towards a random stalagmite and tapped it with his wand. A space opened up inside which contained a small scroll, which Harry took out and unrolled.

“Looks like we’re in the right world. It’s written in code, and lays out familiar facts about my life. I figured even if an alternate me did something similar, there would have to be differences in what was written, even if we’re the same person.”

“That was good thinking. So we’re in the right place. I guess my corrections worked as expected. Let’s hope we don’t have similar problems getting back to Aang’s world. That could ruin the whole plan.”

“Think positively. The summer solstice is tomorrow. We need to dance with Hogwarts then, and try what we talked about, just concentrating on capturing our own community and no one else—Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Forbidden Forest. After that, most of it will be up to you. You’ll have to get your followers up to speed on the plan and what’s involved and then get them into place to start capturing other wizarding communities. Once they’re tied in, they can then spread from there and capture others, and their families and whatnot. Concentrate outside of Britain—everyone in Britain should be caught up by year’s end, either during the Tri-wizard tournament, or by their children during the holidays…”

“I know the plan, Harry, I helped come up with it, remember?” Tom said with some amusement.

“Right, I know…sorry. I guess I’m just nervous now that we’re really going to be doing this.”

Tom put his hands on Harry’s shoulders and turned him to face him.

“I meant what I said that one time. If you had been by my side decades ago, we’d rule the world by now.”

“We do make a good team.” Harry agreed. “Together, we can do anything.”

  
Tom’s hands slid off his shoulders and he lightly gripped his upper arms. Harry wondered for a second if he was going to push him away or pull him closer. The air between them grew tense and expectant, just like it had that night on the balcony. Harry had thought about that night a lot, wondering at the strangeness of it, and Tom’s odd behavior. He had turned it over and over in his mind, wondering what Tom had wanted to say that night that he couldn’t bring himself to. Now, it was happening again. Sweat broke out on Harry's palms, and his heart started pounding in his chest.

Just like the last time, Tom sighed and stepped back.

Harry was both terribly relieved and yet…terribly disappointed at the same time. It was weird, and off-putting--what did he have to be disappointed about? Tom would talk when he was ready, no problem.

 

 

"Oh! Geez, I just remembered! I need to switch the time-turner back with the fake Hermione has before anyone notices it's missing." Harry suddenly exclaimed.

"Why not just keep it?"

"Someone will notice it's gone, and it'll just be more trouble than it's worth in the long run. I can almost guarantee I'll be the first person pointed to once it's discovered missing. I'm not even a fourth year yet and I've been accused of murder, dark magic, and malice aforethought year after year. This would be the first time I was accused of something I'd actually done. I don't want to tempt fate."

"Probably for the best, though the power to just travel back in time whenever you wanted would be nice."

"It wouldn't really be useful outside of a closed environment like Hogwarts--too much could go wrong too easily. It's probably for the best." Harry disagreed. "I should probably go back an hour and lay in wait for Hermione so I can be there in place to switch the time turner right after my past self takes the real one."

Hedwig landed on his shoulder, while Nagini peered at all of them curiously.

"You don't have to come back with me girl. It'll only be an hour. No sense having two of all of us running around."

"I guess I should leave as well. There's no real sense in sticking around, especially if you're going to be time travelling."

Harry nodded, and tried to mask the upwelling of unhappiness that filled him at the other boy's words.

"Yeah. No sense sticking around." he echoed softly.

  
He didn't know what was wrong with him. Yeah, he'd been with Tom 24/7 for the last six months, but so what? You'd think he'd be looking forward to a break, not feeling morose at the thought of him leaving. They had plans, and stuff that needed doing, the sooner the better.None of that seemed to make any difference as Tom prepared to step out the door. He hesitated and turned back to look at him.

"Goodbye, Harry. I'll see you on the solstice."

Harry swallowed the lump that seemed to want to form in his throat, and told himself he needed to get checked out by Madame Pomfrey to see if he was coming down with something.

"Goodbye, Tom."

Tom smiled, brushed a hand down his arm, and then he and Nagini disappeared with a soft 'pop'. Hedwig preened Harry's hair and tried to make him feel better, before flying off into the forest.

Harry shook himself, covered himself with the cloak once more, dug out the time-turner and sent it spinning back a single hour.

 

 

Harry perked up as he saw Hermione heading down the hall towards himself. He waited until she raised her hand to knock and did a quick switching spell on the fake time-turner in her hand to exchange it for the real one he held. She knocked briskly, then frowned and looked down at her hand in puzzlement, just in time for McGonagall to open the door.

"Miss Granger? Oh, the time-turner, yes. It's good you caught me, I was just about to leave."

McGonagall said as she held out her hand. It was then she noticed Hermione was staring at the thing intently as though trying to divine secrets through sheer willpower.

"Is there a problem, Miss Granger?"

Hermione smiled and shook her head, before handing over the time-turner with seeming reluctance. McGonagall eyed her a moment, before heading to her desk, and unlocking the top drawer and tucking the thing away.

"If that was all, Miss Granger?"

"Oh, yes. Sorry, I just got lost in thought for a moment."

McGonagall locked her desk back up and then strode towards the door, locking it behind her. Hermione trotted away in the opposite direction, and ducked into a side hallway out of sight of the nearby portraits, before digging the second time-turner out of her pocket and putting it on. She spun it and then stomped her foot in anger when nothing happened. She sighed then, and tucked the fake beneath her shirt, before turning her feet back to the main hallway. Harry watched her go and mentally patted himself on the back for a job well done.

When his illicit hour was done, he headed into the bathroom he'd ducked into before leaving a year ago, and then wandered out again, sans cloak. It was time to rejoin the time stream.  He knew he’d changed a little over the last year…what to do? He wasn’t sure he could hold a henge all day for a week at least—he’d never done it, and it would be worse if it suddenly failed because he couldn’t hold it any longer. No one would ever believe he was really himself.   Oh well…when in doubt, just wing it.

He wandered out into the corridor and out of the castle onto the lawn, where everyone had been gathered when he left to ‘go to the bathroom’ for a year. Hmm…maybe Hermione was right, and he did spend too much time there…

He was still chuckling to himself when he flopped back down into the space he’d vacated a year ago.

 

 

“Hey Harry… uh…Harry?”

Harry glanced up and looked at Neville inquiringly. “Yes? What? Is there something on my face?”

“Harry…is that you?”

“Yeah. Who else would it be?” Harry asked innocently, before blinking and looking at everyone in confusion. “Why is everyone staring at me?”

“It’s just…damn, Potter, what the hell did you do in the bathroom?”

“The usual sort of things…what kind of a question is that?”

“You look different. A lot different.”

“I don’t feel different…although while I was walking back…it did kind of feel like my shirt got tighter.”

Draco and Pansy stared at Harry’s chest, arms and shoulders—which were more developed, and were causing his thin t-shirt to strain slightly. Pansy grinned at him a bit salaciously. Draco looked rather glum.

“Maybe you were hit with a spell? Why does no one ever hit me with spells like that?”

Neville’s fingers twitched slightly on his lap. Harry’s fingers twitched back, a bit differently.  
Neville relaxed, convinced it was really him. He doubted an imposter would know their secret language.

Unfortunately, not everyone was so willing to let things slide. Hermione snuck off when no one was looking and roused all the teachers with a hysterical tale of an imposter pretending to be Harry Potter.

Cedric Diggory, who was passing nearby, was sent out to fetch him.

 

“Any idea why the teachers want to see me?”

“No. That Hermione Granger was with them though, if that helps. Say…have you been working out?”

“I always work out. Every morning since I was about eight, actually.”

“I don’t remember you being quite so buff before.”

“I’ve finally reached an age where I’ve started building muscle, that’s all. Plus, I think someone might have shrunk my shirt when I was on my way out of the bathroom. It did suddenly feel kind of tight, but not painfully so. I didn’t really realize anything was wrong until everyone started asking me if I was really Harry. It’s all very troublesome.”

Cedric laughed. “Well, you can probably head off the rest of the way on your own. Cho is waiting for…me…um.” he trailed off uncomfortably.

“Don’t sweat it. We broke up, we’re still friendly, it’s no biggie.”

Cedric didn’t look like he quite believed him at first…but then he really looked at him and realized he did, which seemed to come as a tremendous relief to him. Harry could only imagine he’d felt guilty or something—Hufflepuffs were like that sometimes. They were always too worried about hurting anyone’s feelings…unless they thought you’d hurt or slighted one of them, in which case the whole damned house would turn on you like a pack of rabid dogs.

He often wondered how different the world would be if Tom Riddle had been sorted into Hufflepuff.

When he and Cedric went their separate ways, Harry prepared himself for interrogation. He walled away the last year in his mind and left his annoyance at being called inside, a few idle musings about Padma and Parvati Patil in tiny bikinis, beckoning to him to join them for a wild night, thoughts of lunch, an idle musing about what had happened in the hall that made his shirt too tight, and a desire to go flying to crowd the front of his mind where they could be easily picked up by a legilimens.  
He knocked lightly on the door of the teacher’s lounge and found McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore ensconced within, with Hermione standing off to the side looking snooty and self-righteous. He let his very real irritation with her float to the surface of his mind as well.

“What’s the matter, Granger? Get bored and decide to accuse me of committing crimes again?”

Hermione just stuck her nose further in the air.

“See professors? He’s obviously an impostor!”

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes at her, before looking at the teachers with a mute appeal in his eyes. “You cannot be serious. Why do all of you even listen to her? She probably hasn’t been drinking her turnip juice again…but then, I’ve been saying for years that she might have been too quick to chuck her psychiatric medicine.”

“I’m not crazy!”

“Couldn’t prove it by me.”

“Mr. Potter, if you could take a seat?”

Harry sighed and flopped into the nearest chair.

The teachers waved wands at him, and watched the time.

He let the thought that they were all idiots drift to the forefront of his mind, and then lost himself in idle daydreams…Snape disco dancing…McGonagall and Hermione sitting to either side of a small table sipping tea…Hermione’s hair pulled back in the severe bun McGonagall usually sported…

” _no no, press your lips into a thin white line and look down your nose at the same time. That’s it deary. We’ll make a bitter, dried-up old schoolmarm of you yet.’_

  
Dumbledore…his colorful clothing fading to black and his eyes to red… _’come to the dark side! We have cookies!”_  
A green Flitwick in a brown robe – _‘do or do not, there is no try’_ levitating a space ship with his mind…  
Hermione in dominatrix gear, surrounded by cowering house elves, snapping a whip.  
_“Cower before me worms! You will worship me as your queen or you will perish!”_  
Dumbledore was starting to look rather disturbed…Snape looked amused though—he guessed that meant he had gotten his sense of humor from his mother, not his father.

An hour passed, the teachers brought up no signs of any glamours, polyjuice, or other means of disguise. McGonagall made his shirt fit looser, and he was free to go.

He thwapped Hermione in the side of the head as he was leaving.

“OW!”

“Obnoxious twit.”

“MR. POTTER!” McGongall huffed in outrage.

“One point to Gryffindor.” Snape said at the same time.

When McGonagall turned on him in a fury, Harry slipped back outside.

Yes, winging it usually worked pretty well when dealing with wizards—his somewhat changed appearance would now go without comment, no henge required.

 

He had trouble falling asleep that night. It was an expected, but still unwelcome development from a year spent out of the dorms. He'd have to get used to it again.

When Harry did finally fall asleep and passed into the world of dreams he barely noticed the transition. One moment he was staring at the canopy of his bed in Gryffindor tower, and the next he found himself _walking across a rolling meadow, filled with flowers and sunshine, and frolicking animals, fruit trees so abundant their boughs were straining beneath the weight of the fruit they bore, golden fields filled with corn…_  
 _He continued walking, and the land gradually grew barren, and dark, the trees bare of leaves…in the distance, the world was covered in ice and snow. In the no man’s land between winter and summer, he found Tom, walking towards him, out of the swirling snow. Tom was slightly blue—his lips, his skin, tainted with frost and the bite of winter’s chill. Harry reached for him, and where he touched, skin grew pink with health and warmth, his lips became strawberry red once more. Unnoticed by either of them, the abundance of summer had followed Harry as he walked, and the barren lands around them grew green and fertile, and the snow began to melt from the distant peaks as the chill of winter faded from Tom’s cheeks._  
 _Harry smiled and held out a hand, which Tom took with a bemused smile, before lacing their fingers together. They walked through the lands as the snow melted, and flowers, fruit and vegetables sprung up behind them. Fairies of every sort peeked out from the lush greenery around them, and many bowed or curtsied as they passed--centaurs, unicorns, dryads and nymphs, goblins and house elves, and dozens that he had no names for, which looked like moving flowers, bundles of twigs and moss, some were winged, some not. There were even merfolk and selkies and other aquatic fairies peeking out from the lakes and rivers they passed._  
 _They came at last to a towering tree which seemed to grow in the center of the wooded paradise they'd so mysteriously found themselves in. The branches overhead were alive with life--birds, squirrels, small fairies of all sorts, nested in its branches and filled the air with music and the chattering of many voices. The ground beneath was carpeted with a thick layer of emerald green moss that looked like a velvet carpet. The gnarled roots of the tree created dips and hollows that seemed to invite one to sit for a while and take one's ease. Harry found himself a comfortable seat and stretched his legs out in front of him. Tom took a seat nearby and laid his head in his lap, smirking at the rolled eyes Harry gifted him with in turn. Harry found his fingers carding through Tom's curly hair, as he usually did when they found themselves in such a position--which was rather often, now that he thought about it, considering they were both boys. There was part of him that thought it should bother him more, but he couldn't find it in him to worry about it overmuch. It was peaceful and comfortable here…and he'd always thought Tom's hair felt like silk between his fingers..._

Harry woke, bemused by the strange dream, and excited for the coming day.

  
He put the dream out of his mind and started towards the stairs to get his daily workout out of the way. When he returned, he showered and then dressed with particular care, though he was careful not to pick anything that looked too fancy. It was summer solstice; he thought the first step in transporting their people to their new world was a special enough occasion to warrant the attention—but at the same time, he didn’t want to be answering questions all day about why he’d felt the need to get dressed up. _Troublesome._ He thought the clothes he’d gotten while visiting Fire Nation would do well—baggy pants, wrap around belted tunic that reached his knees, all in red —fancy, but not in any way that would draw undue attention, light enough for summer, loose enough to dance in. He even had red boots that were lightweight enough you barely noticed them on your feet, and which allowed your feet to breathe—a necessity in the hot weather of Fire Nation.

 

The approaching solstice was a wild thrum in the air. Everyone was in high spirits as they made their way down to breakfast, looking forward to the dance and the party on the lawn later. They continued to be in high spirits until halfway through breakfast, when Dumbledore tapped his glass a few times to get everyone’s attention and then stood and waited for everyone to quiet down.

“Good morning, children. I regret to inform you that your solstice dance party has been cancelled.”

  
There were immediate howls of outrage, all through the great hall. Harry’s eyes narrowed on Dumbledore’s face, which in spite of his supposed regret was cheery and his eyes were twinkling like stars. He held up his hands for silence, and then seemed to grow rather irritated when it took several long moments for everyone to stop talking.

  
“The seasonal dances have been outlawed by the Ministry of Magic. Anyone caught performing them can expect a stay in Azkaban for their defiance. They are not only dark magic but they endanger secrecy.”

  
More howls of outrage erupted, and it took several more long moments until order was restored—which Dumbledore acquired by letting off a loud bang from his wand, and then staring at everyone with sorrowful disappointment over his glasses after everyone had jumped and shrieked at the unexpected noise.

  
“That is quite enough. You will comply with the Ministry’s decree. That is non-negotiable. You will simply have to find something else to occupy your time for the remainder of the day.”

Having said his piece, he sat down and continued eating with a hearty appetite, and seemed quite oblivious to the continued upset his announcement had caused.

 

 

Harry finished eating as quickly as he could, then he was off. He slipped down the corridor that led to the kitchens and hightailed it to the nearest room of requirement entrance, and slipped inside, pulling out a small mirror.

“Tom Riddle.”

There was a bit of a wait, and then Tom’s face appeared in place of his own reflection in the mirror.

  
“Harry?”

  
“We’ve got a problem. Dumbledore just made an announcement. The ministry outlawed the seasonal dances. The solstice party has been cancelled, and he threatened a stay in Azkaban for anyone caught doing them—for practicing dark magic and endangering secrecy.”

  
“Yes, Lucius was just telling me. Don’t worry. We aren’t going to let Dumbledore or those pandering, short-sighted fools at the ministry stop us. Meet me down in the Chamber when the time comes. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  
“Okay… What are you going to do?”

  
“You’ll see. Just be ready.”

  
“I’ll be there.”

When Tom’s face disappeared, Harry frowned thoughtfully and then called his little house elf friend.

  
“Itsy.”

  
“Oh, hello. You is calling?”

  
“Yes, I need you to do something for me. It’s important.”

  
“What Itsy cans be doing for you?”

  
“I need you to get one of the music cubes for summer solstice, put it up in some central location where it can be heard by everyone, and turn it on and make it loud when it’s time to dance.”

  
“Itsy has already done so, and we is making lots of food for feasting.”

  
“Even though Dumbledore told you not to?” Harry asked curiously.

  
“We is dreaming last night and we sees the Summer and Winter kings and we is knowing.”

  
Harry recalled his odd dream from the night before, and all the fairy folk watching them as they walked through the forests and meadows. Apparently it was more than just an odd dream.

  
“Good. Then you understand today is important.”

  
“Is time to be leaving this place.”

  
“Yes. It’s time. I could use your help over the summer. There’s lots to prepare.”

  
“Itsy will be there. You makes sure you tells all the foods to grow big so we is having lots to be storing up.”

  
“I will.” Harry agreed, bemused.

  
Itsy nodded, curtseyed, and disappeared.

Harry stared a moment longer at the spot where the little elf had vanished from and laughed.

“Hopefully all the rest will be that easy.”

 

 

“Harry. Good, you’re here.”

  
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Harry chuckled as he rose from his seat between Salazar Slytherin’s feet.  “Say… Did you have an odd dream last night of the two of us wandering around and wherever we walked stuff grew and winter disappeared?”

  
Tom blinked.

  
“Yeesss… How did you know?”

  
He told him about his earlier conversation with Itsy the house elf.

  
“So…all the fairies know what’s coming? Well, that’s convenient.”

  
“Yep. I was also told to make sure the food grows big so there’s plenty to be storing up.”

  
“I’ll be sure to keep it in mind.” Tom snorted in amusement.

  
Harry took his place across from Tom, flicked his wand at the music cube and put it away.

  
“It’s time.”

  
The first strains of music drifted out, and they began to dance.

Once through, twice through…

 

“No…let it build before we fling it out.” Tom panted.

They were both feeling slightly overheated, like they’d been too long in the sun. The circled closer, and moved together, circling inward until there was barely an inch of space between them. The pressure building up was almost painful now.

  
“Almost…almost…”

  
“Now!”

 

 

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, well pleased indeed. He’d had a very productive year indeed. He would soon have Hogwarts back the way it was supposed to be. Controlled. Orderly. Predictable.  
He hummed a happy tune to himself, popped a sherbet lemon in his mouth and sighed. Paperwork was the bane of all administrators everywhere.  
He suddenly heard music. He frowned and rose to his feet, an aura of fury already forming around his body, when a sudden crest of wild magic crashed through the walls to engulf him.

 

In the Slytherin common room, house Slytherin stood poised and awaiting the moment of the solstice. They risked Azkaban if anyone caught them, but they were united in purpose and knew none from amongst their number would betray them.  
They were wizards and witches, and they were tired of being told they weren’t allowed to be what they were, tired of being denied their culture, their heritage and their history. There were no muggles at Hogwarts, there was no danger to secrecy.  
They were going to celebrate, no matter what Albus Dumbledore or the Ministry had to say about it.  
When the crest of wild magic came for them, they surrendered with a smile on their faces.

 

“No! Stop! You mustn’t!” Hermione wailed as she did her best to keep from leaping with the rest of the Gryffindors. Her heart wasn’t really in it, though she didn’t want to risk Azkaban. She’d felt less like an outsider since they’d started doing the dances, and had begun looking forward to the cross-quarters of the year.

 

Down in the kitchens, the house elves leapt and whirled, even while putting the finishing touches on the solstice feast they’d made.

 

All of Hufflepuff house was dancing through the hallways. Ravenclaw had set their tower to trembling. The Melting Pot shook with the sound of thudding feet.

 

It built and built, and traveled outward.

The Forbidden Forest came alive as the fairy folk danced among the trees. In a clearing, the centaurs and unicorns leapt and kicked and twirled on their hind legs.

The folks of Hogsmeade danced in their homes, in their shops in the streets. The power built and crested and traveled outward once more, gathering up all the magical places and people and creatures.

The dance spread, until it reached Wales, where some of Tom’s people were waiting, in a field out of sight of any muggles, warded about to keep any from wandering by. They caught the wave of wild magic their lord flung to them and they danced and flung it outward to their brethren, who caught it and flung it outward once more.

Southward, ever southward it traveled, winding around all the magic, threading it together like pearls on a string.

Deep in the Chamber, two boys strained as they danced, flinging the net ever wider. They could feel it—all the magic in the British Isles, in Ireland, in all the scattered islands that surrounded them, in the lochs and moors and forests and glens, in the villages and cities. The folk and the fairies danced—in the fields, in the ministry, in the school, in their homes and offices.

The boys acted on instinct, and when the right moment came, when all the scattered bits of their community were gathered up, they tightened the net and pulled and anchored it tight.

They were trembling as he magic began to recede and sunk to their knees wearily.

 

“We’re already ahead of schedule. We got the entirety of United Kingdom and Ireland in one fell swoop.”

  
“Hopefully there’s a power increase as we spread out, or this move might kill me. We still have to capture the whole world.” Harry grumbled.

  
“There should be. Here, where Dumbledore’s influence is strongest, most of our native culture has been lost or pared away to make room for muggle alternatives. Elsewhere, where his hold isn’t as strong, people still follow the old ways, or at least they did last I checked. Unless that’s changed drastically, they should already be primed and ready to take part, rather than us having to give them a push and sweep them up to build enough power.”

  
“I hope so, or this is going to be a rough year. We still have to do this three more times.”

  
“It will be fine, I’m certain. I should get going. I didn’t tell my people very much, just that they had to spread out and dance and be ready. I need to gather them up and explain what’s going on.”

  
“I just realized… Snape might be a problem.”

  
“Why?”

  
“He defected to Dumbledore after telling you the prophecy. He didn’t believe you’d actually spare my mother. Dumbledore got him to swear to obey him so long as I was in danger. He was there, in the goblin cave when the last horcrux was removed. He’s probably not going to be too thrilled if his dark mark goes lighting up again.”

  
“I was thinking of changing the dark mark. I’m not Voldemort anymore, though it seems I am actually still the dark lord”

  
“Winter king. That’s what Itsy called you.”

  
“And I guess you’re the light lord these days.”

  
“Summer king.” Harry disagreed. “I guess you were right about the whole avatar of magic thing. Why two men though? You’d think it’d be a man and a woman.”

  
“Last time it was two women, fairy queens, that led us here. This time it just happens to be us.”

  
“Whatever. What’s your new mark going to be?”

  
“Well… maybe this.” Tom decided as he transformed into his animagus form.

  
“You bastard. You’ve transformed already?” Harry grumped when the rainbow feathered serpent preened and looked smug. Harry backed up some so he could get a good look at him.

  
“Just like mine, but opposite colors. I guess this is part of the avatar package too. I haven’t been able to change yet though. It’s very…showy, isn’t it?”

  
The serpent warped and Tom was standing there again. “I actually wondered if we got these forms because it’s a combination of what we both wanted. You wanted to be a bird, I wanted to be a snake.”

  
“Where do the antlers come in?”

  
“Hmm, good point. I’m not sure. It’s probably your fault. You said your parents were deer animagi, didn’t you? You were probably thinking of that subconsciously and it got added to the mix.”  Harry gave him a dirty look, though he didn’t argue the point.

  
“I should probably head up soon. I’m sure most folks will guess I had something to do with the sudden dance party, but there’s no need to make it obvious.”

  
“Yes, I should go as well. I need to gather my followers and get them to start preparing. You should probably gather your people and explain things as well.”

  
“Yeah, that should be fun. Sirius and Adeline and the rest think you’re dead. Maybe I should send something to explain and give them a chance to cool down while I’m stuck at the Dursleys for a week.”

  
“I don’t understand why you’re even bothering.”

  
“Last time. I’ll get my wardrobe updated and tell them I’m leaving. It’ll give me a chance to say my goodbyes to the folks in the neighborhood I won’t be seeing again. I’ll mostly just be sleeping there for a week. I’m going to get started preparing for the move while I have a chance and there’s going to be a board meeting. The goblins will already know we’re leaving, but I’m sure they’ll want more details. I can explain to the rest of the board as well so they have some forewarning.”

  
“I should probably have Lucius contact Severus and invite him over so I can speak with him rather than summon him. If what you say is true, Dumbledore will immediately get his Order together and be working against us right from the start otherwise.”

  
“Yeah, we really can’t afford a war while we’re trying to move everyone.”

 

They had a year to go before the process was complete—a year of tying together communities, and slowly building up enough power across the entire wizarding community worldwide to make the move possible. So much could still go wrong. He didn’t want to see wizards butchering each other in the streets over the question of whether to stay or go. He didn’t want the world ministries and the ICW gearing up to try to suppress what was happening. He didn’t want to see witches and wizards who wanted to leave get stranded and lose their magic because of some small-minded power hungry idiots who would rather they all die slowly than give up so much of an ounce of power that they currently wielded.

He was almost dreading going to Sirius’ house in a week—he could just imagine the hysterical interrogation that was going to take place—and knowing Sirius’ and his priorities, it was going to focus more on the fact that he'd been hanging out with the man who used to be Voldemort, than on the wizards getting sucked across dimensions into another world.  All rest of them would want to know more about that part. Hmmm…perhaps he should work on some sort of presentation to answer their questions and soothe their worries?

At least he’d have a week to relax before diving into all that—he'd be in the least magical place on earth for the coming week, the Dursley household. Joy.

He’d only stuck with going there as long as he had to make sure they paid him back somewhat—his pride demanded no less; but he didn’t like being there, they didn’t want him there. The only one who didn’t mind his presence too much was Dudley—and he had his own friends and his own life, and they didn’t really hang out or anything in the time he was there anyway.

Oh, well. It would be the last time. He'd be in another world this time next year. He supposed it was only good manners to give them some forewarning about what was going to come.


	2. Meetings and Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summer begins, our heroes begin spreading the word and preparing.

Harry couldn't help the sigh that welled up out of himself when he saw the Dursleys waiting for him at King's Cross Station. Not for the first time, he found he rather resented his youth, not to mention his own stubborn nature. While he was stuck in the muggle world for the next week, everyone else would be busy making plans and holding meetings and getting things done.

 

"Boy."

  
"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley."

"Let's go. I don't want to be stuck in traffic."

 

Yeah, even as much as things had improved over the years, that was about as friendly as the Dursleys ever got. Harry hefted his trunk and trailed after them.They'd been on the road for about twenty minutes when Dudley ventured a question.

"So how was your year?"

Vernon and Petunia both stiffened and turned as though to glare at Dudley for consorting with the 'freak'.

"Can't complain. Yours?"

"Better. It was a lot better. I'm on the boxing team, you know. I won the junior championship."

"Yeah? Good on you, Dud."

"I'm supposed to be going to a few tournaments this summer. I might manage to win the regionals, who knows?"

"Yeah? You get prizes for that?"

"For the regionals, yeah. School level you just get a trophy cup. Regional levels you might get scholarships and stuff."

"Not bad. You going to university then?"

"Well, I haven't won yet. I might do, who knows?"

"You should, if you get the chance."

"Maybe I will. How about you? Anything interesting happen?"

"Funny you should ask. Yeah, something interesting did happen."

"Boy! We don't want to hear about any of your freakish nonsense!"

"I think you'll want to hear this. Magic, and all the wizards, will be leaving the world next summer and going somewhere else."

"You can do that? Why the hell are you still here then?" Vernon blustered, his face pale.

Petunia actually turned around in her seat to face Harry.

  
"It's not something you can just do. It's going to take the next year, and every magical person and creature, to actually make it happen."

"Why are you suddenly all leaving?"

"Because the situation is getting untenable for all of us. The non-magical population keeps soaring, and that makes it harder and harder to hide wizards, let alone things like dragons. There's surveillance going up all over the place.  It's for the best, not just for us but for all of you as well. I don't really approve of the whole altering memories thing to hide the existence of magic. When we leave, there won't be any more of that, so it will actually be better for all of you as well."

Dudley just stared at him. "Wow…that's uh…"

"Yeah, I know."

"So…this is the last time we'll be seeing you then?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

Petunia stared at Harry mutely for a moment longer, before turning around in her seat to face front again. The remainder of the trip was oddly quiet.

 

 

  
"Are you going out?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason. When will you be back?"

"Late this afternoon, probably."

Petunia nodded and turned back to her soaps. Harry eyed her a moment longer, and headed out the door. It was his second day at Privet Drive, and things had remained strange--odd silences, stilted conversations, and Dudley seemed to be hanging around more than usual. He'd spent pretty much the whole day with him yesterday. Today, he and Vernon had left early to head out to the junior boxing regional championship, otherwise, he had a feeling Dudley would have been glued to his side again all day. It was decidedly odd.  He put it all out of his mind as he headed to the outskirts of the park and called the Knight Bus. He had things to do, and only a few weeks of summer to take care of them.  The Knight bus dropped him off in Godric's Hallow. He took a moment to just grin at his house. It had been a while since he'd seen the place--not counting the brief time he stayed there while with his alternate in the other universe. A small house elf popped up as soon as he stepped through the gates.

"Itsy. Thanks for agreeing to help me out this summer."

"Is being no problem. We elves is not being very busy during summers. Is good to be having work to do."

"Glad to hear it. So, I guess the thing we really need to start with is laying in a stockpile of food and storing it away good. When we get to the other world it will be summer. Actually, maybe we should make a list of things to get first…"

"Itsy can be helping with that."

"Good. I'm worried I'll forget something important and then we'll leave and there won't be anyway to get it after."

"Is no worrying. Itsy will be watching. We no is forgetting anything."

"Well then, I leave it in your capable hands."

"We is getting vegetables and fruits first. Meat can be getting fresh at any time. Itsy sees there is being a dairy place. Is you having any cows?"

"No, I don't have any animals. I don't usually stay here. I'm at Hogwarts most of the year, and with my godfather most of the summer. I thought this would make a good storehouse though. I'll be moving in eventually, just not at the moment."

"Is being good idea. You should be getting some animals though. Then, you no is needing to be buying milk and eggs and cheese and butter. Itsy can be making it."

"I don't even know where to go to be getting animals."

"Itsy can be helping with that too. Whew, is good thing I is coming to helps you!"

Harry snickered and nodded. "That it is. Glad to have you onboard."

 

Harry and Itsy were busy sealing away the first of what would probably be many shopping trips over the remainder of the summer, when Harry's phone rang. He dug it out and checked, but it was a number he didn't recognize.

"Hello?"

"Harry. How are things going?"

"Tom? Since when do you have a phone?"

"Since the day after solstice. It's an infernal contraption."

"Had trouble learning to use it, did you?"

He could only snicker when Tom grumbled on the other end.

"The littlest Malfoy is a nosy bugger."

"Draco? What makes you say that?"

"He wanted to know why I wanted your phone number. I told him I wanted to speak to you. He actually had the nerve to ask me what about!"

"It's not like it's a secret or anything."

"Well…no. I just don't like being questioned. His little girlfriend is no better. They both were far too inquisitive for my liking. I don't know half of what they were going on about… something about weasels. I decided it was best to just ignore them."

"Sometimes, yes, it is best." Harry agreed, wondering why they'd even mentioned the Weasleys. As far as he knew, none of them had a phone. It probably wasn't important.

“I take it you're staying with the Malfoys?”

“I am. He, and the rest of those that are free and were smart enough to escape the aftermath of the war unscathed are all up to date on what’s happening. Lucius is going to get in touch with Igor Karkaroff—he’s one of the flight risks. He sold out others to get out of prison. He’d probably flee at the first sign of my mark for fear of being killed as a traitor. He’s the headmaster of Durmstrang at the moment, and so has placement and contacts that will be very useful.  
The rest are spreading the word to trusted associates. There will probably be a lot of clan gatherings and family reunions and large parties taking place in the immediate future. We have the first general meeting planned for week's end when you'll be back in circulation. I still don't quite understand why you chose to go stay with those bloody muggles again.”

  
“I figure it's the last time. I told them as much. They've been acting weird since then. So, a big meeting. I'll probably spend the whole day before the meeting trying to explain things and get Sirius and the rest calmed down. After the meeting, I guess I’ll be busy with my corporation—not hugely busy, just a couple of shareholder meetings over the summer. I should probably fill in the board on what will be happening. It won’t hugely affect our current businesses, but it will impact a lot of our tentative plans for the future. I’m sure the goblins are already making plans to be disengaged from the muggle world by summer. I've already sent an e-mail to the Bells as well. They and their cohorts have a year to make completely magical technology—we won’t have the muggle world tech for them to build off anymore once we’ve gone, and we don’t want to take it with us and taint the new world the moment we set foot on it.”

“Why even bother?”

“I kind of like my cell phone, really. It’s much more convenient than sticking your head in a fire, and you can get a hold of someone even when they’re not at home. They’ve grown rather popular. I have a feeling people aren’t going to want to completely do without them now that they’re used to them. I'm already busy stockpiling food and whatnot. Itsy--she's a house elf--has been helping me buy stuff and seal it away all morning. We've barely made a dent in the list we made of stuff we needed to get. It's going to take several more trips at the very least.”

“Anything else we haven’t thought of already?”

“What’s going to happen to the folks living in completely muggle areas? There are a lot of them, even with many of them moving into houses around Grimmauld Place. Sirius’ land is only so big, and he only had so many houses to go around, even with making a lot of them into flats for multiple people. Will they just find themselves homeless and without any of their stuff when we cross over?”

“Not if they’ve warded them properly, I shouldn’t think. You said some old folks were giving lessons on how to do a proper job of it and tie it to the family? If those people still in muggle areas have done so, those houses are now magical dwellings, and should fall under the same rules as old family homes like your place.”

“Oh, good. I didn’t want to deal with a housing crisis the moment we crossed over. We should make sure everyone stockpiles food, like I'm already doing. If we arrive in summer, it will be too late to plant crops. We’ll have to survive until spring on whatever we gather, and whatever surplus we can glean from the land until we can plant crops and set up proper farms and whatnot. Even if the new world will likely have a banner year for food because of the dancing we did while we were there, we don’t want to end up indebted to the entire world to feed us as soon as we arrive, and we don’t want to clear the land of animals or the nearby ocean of fish trying to feed us either.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll make sure it’s brought up. Thank goodness for preservation spells. We should make sure the elves of Hogwarts know to start stockpiling food in the castle—as much as possible. No selling off the surplus this year."

"I already told them as much. Itsy thinks I should probably try acquiring some seeds, and farm animals too—a cow, some goats, a few sheep, chickens, some turkeys, a few pigs, some rabbits…maybe an alpaca or two. Their fur is supposed to make nice cloth. Maybe some deer? No… Maybe I’ll leave that up to others. My parents were deer animagi…it’s just kind of ugh, you know?”

“You don’t have to slaughter them. Just try acquiring a stag and a few does close to summer. In fact, you should probably wait as long as possible to stockpile animals. You'll have to feed them all year."

"I won't really be able to do so. I'll be at Hogwarts, remember?"

"Oh, right. I'll put in word with Goyle. He has a farm. I'll tell him you need some animals. I'm sure he'll be able to either acquire some for you in spring, or he'll part with some of his when we get to the new world."

"That would be a help, Thanks."

They spoke only a short time longer. Some people arrived at the Malfoy's place, all of them wanting to talk to the 'Dark Lord' about the rumors they'd been hearing.

"It seems I need to go."

"Yeah. Good luck with your meeting."

 

Harry found himself feeling oddly resentful of the folks that had cut their conversation short. It had been nice hearing his voice again. He was being ridiculous, of course. If everyone was going to be ready in time, they needed to know what was coming so they could prepare. He really was being silly. Now that Tom had a phone, they could just talk to each other whenever. In fact, speaking of that…

He flipped through his received calls list and added Tom to his phone book, and then after a moment's thought, to his speed dial. He put him as number 1. That used to be Neville’s spot, Sirius, poor fellow, got knocked down to three. With the move in the works, he’d likely need to speak to Tom more often than the other two.  
It was a perfectly logical and valid reason. Why then, did his insides squirm uncomfortably when he re-ordered his call list? He could feel his cheeks heating up as well. He put it all out of his mind rather firmly. He didn't want to examine his feelings on the matter too closely.

He got back to work sealing up the vegetables and fruits he and Itsy had purchased earlier.  
One thing his talk with Tom did remind him about was his upcoming confrontation with Sirius and the others. He wasn't looking forward to it. How could he make them understand how and why things had changed between him and the-guy-who-used-to-be-Voldemort?

 

_"Of course. I'm an idiot. A picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it?"_

 

 

 

“Hello, you two. So, what’s going on?” Barty asked curiously as he and Nymphadora stepped out of the floo.

  
“We’d all like to know that.” Andromeda agreed.

  
“All we know is that Harry sent a box full of memories this morning, and said it was stuff we all needed to see in order to understand what was going on with the last solstice.” Adeline informed them.

  
“There was something odd going on then? I told you we weren’t imagining things.” Arcturus told his wife smugly.

  
“I noticed something odd happening too.” Sirius agreed. The rest of them nodded as well.

  
“We have a pensieve in the study.” Adeline offered.

  
“Do you have any idea what’s in the memories?” Barty wondered as they all headed there.

  
“Just what Harry said in his letter.” Sirius replied.

  
“Why don’t you read it to us then so we’re all on the same page.” Remus suggested.

 

_Everyone,_

_Greetings and salutations. I hope you’re all well._

_Now that we’ve gotten the pleasantries out of the way, I thought I should explain why I asked all of you to gather together to look at some of my memories._

_This will sound unbelievable, but I lived the last year twice. During my second iteration I traveled to another world, and mostly by accident helped set anchors that will, in a year’s time, transport the magical world to the world I visited. I also ran into a familiar face, namely Tom Marvolo Riddle, who you all probably know better as Lord Voldemort. He looks rather like the teen version from that picture I made. Don’t be alarmed, you’ll understand more as you watch my memories._

_The memories are all numbered, watch them in order so you’ll understand what you’re seeing. The first memory takes place…well…it was either in my head or on the edge of the 'land of death'. I was there, and even I'm not sure._

_When I was hanging in the goblin caves, just before I cut myself loose, this is what I saw and experienced. All I can figure is that what happened there effected what happened later. That's my best guess, anyway._

_The second memory takes place in the world we’ll be going to—don’t get too excited, you won’t see much of the world, as it takes place in a mystical library that at the time was 90% buried beneath a desert. The library is no longer in the world—the knowledge spirit whose place it was took it back to the spirit world shortly after this memory takes place._

_I, like you, thought Tom Riddle dead after the whole thing with the goblins. I was wrong. He was in the same world I traveled to, and I met him there quite by surprise._   
_The memory is of when we met up._

_The third memory is of a conversation Tom and I had shortly after escaping the mystical library about the move._

_The fourth memory takes place in the alternate of our own world that Tom and I traveled to on our way back here. It takes places shortly after that world’s Harry undid the obliviates and restored his memory of his first fifteen months of life._

_The fourth memory is a conversation Tom and I had in Potter Keep in Godric’s Hallow, shortly after he killed his counterpart in that world._

_Hopefully, after seeing these memories which take place over the course of about six months’ time between the first and the last, you will understand somewhat, and feel a bit better about things._

_Some further notes, the three kids in the second memory that you won’t recognize are Aang, Katara and Sokka. Aang is the avatar of the spirit of the earth we mentioned. He’s the little bald kid in orange and yellow. The other two are the children of Hakoda, chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Unfortunately, the rest of my companions—Toph, Suki and Zuko, don’t appear in this one._

_Maybe you’ll get a chance to ‘meet’ them later. I know you must all be quite curious about the other world._   
_With all my love,_   
_Harry._

“Well, I’m quite curious now. Shall we?” Arcturus asked, as Adeline uncapped the first vial and dumped it into the pensieve.

They found themselves following Harry as he swam through clear water and then out onto the shore of the strangest place either of them had ever seen. The colors were unreal, as though all the grass and skies they'd ever seen in their lifetime were but a poor, pale reflection of these. Sirius turned in a slow circle and then gasped at the sight of the tree, only to turn back when he felt Adeline tugging insistently on his sleeve.

"Sirius, look."

Sirius turned around and felt a tremendous lump form in his chest.

"James…Lily." Remus choked out.

"Harry's parents. He looks just like his father." Melania noted.

"God, look at them. They're just kids, the both of them. They're not all that much older than Harry himself. They look exactly like I remember." Sirius murmured as tears formed in his eyes.

  
They stood back quietly to watch their reunion. They heard the sound of crying the same time Harry did.

They all shivered while Harry stood there, lost in indecision. Everything was so quiet and still, as though the whole strange place they found themselves in was holding its breath.  
Numerous emotions flickered over Harry's face, most too quick to follow.

  
_“Where is there forgiveness, where is there an end to pain if not in death?”_

They found themselves unsurprised when he broke from his parents' restraining hold and made his way to the flayed lump of dark lord flailing on the shore. Sirius looked back at the shades of his friends, and saw they looked wounded and betrayed, and perhaps a bit angry and disbelieving as well.

Had he never been to Azkaban, he might have been right there with them… part of him still was, and yet…

James and Lily had fought valiantly, died bravely and as heroes, while they were still little more than kids themselves. They had lived charmed lives before that, the both of them. They had been powerful, smart, popular, much beloved by teachers and fellow students. Neither of them had ever been abused or mistreated, or denied anything they really wanted. The war had been terrible and awful…but they had chosen to take part, and they had been surrounded by others who had done so as well. They had both died, but it had been quick at least--killing curses, the both of them.  
Looking at them, and at this place… They had fared far better than he himself, or Frank and Alice Longbottom, or even their own son.  
James and Lily had lived charmed lives, died young as heroes. Neither of them had ever learned that there were things far worse than dying, and so perhaps couldn't fully appreciate the horror of what they were suggesting.

Harry wouldn't have been Harry if he had just turned away from such obvious suffering. The kid could be an unforgiving little bastard if he wanted to…but apparently he couldn't truly bring himself to leave someone with absolutely no hope of reprieve.  
Dora, himself, even the ruddy Dursleys…he still spoke to all of them. Apparently, they hadn't been giving enough credit to his kinder impulses.

_"It's okay, you're safe. I'll take care of you. Relax. I'm going to give you a bath."_

It was freaky to hear the words, and yet realize that Harry wasn't speaking, he was hissing. He chanced a glance at Lily and James again. Neither of them was shocked by his ability, and by the look of it they understood what he was saying--both of them.

_Oh, hush thee, my baby,_   
_Thy sire was a knight,_   
_Thy mother a lady,_   
_Both lovely and bright;_   
_The woods and the glens,_   
_From the towers we see,_   
_They all are belonging,_   
_Dear baby, to thee..._

Sirius could only sigh. His godson was bathing and singing lullabies to a flayed fragment of a former dark lord while his dead best friends watched all morose. Life was strange sometimes.

Adeline gripped his sleeve again, and they watched as the flayed baby healed a bit after being washed and covered in runes, and then disappeared.

They stood from the pensieve when the memory ended and exchanged a look.

"Well. That was a heck of an intro. I have to admit I'm curious about the rest." Barty laughed.

"That makes two of us." Adeline agreed as she put the first memory back in its vial and uncorked the second.

  
“I think we’re all curious.” Ted murmured. He and Andromeda and Nymphadora all shivered, remembering the flayed baby.

 

They followed Harry, on his broom, through a dimly lit library with cavernous, vaulted ceilings, and into a room where three teenagers and a slightly younger boy waited. They followed Tom Riddle and Harry when they left together and watched their confrontation.

“Well…” Adeline commented dryly. “Only your godson would stumble upon a former dark lord all unexpected and call him a _spotty teenager with delusions of grandeur.”_

“Or a _‘mad broken thing’._ I’m glad to see he didn’t pull any punches, at least.” Sirius grumbled.

Adeline retrieved the memory and carefully stowed it back in its vial, before uncorking the next and dumping it in the pensieve.

 

“Cozy little campsite.” Dora chuckled.

  
“Do they have to sit so close together?” Sirius grumbled. “They’re practically sitting in each other’s laps!”

  
“Say what else you will about the man, he was a brilliant researcher. I’ve never heard this story he mentioned.”

  
“Did we really originate on another world?” Andromeda wondered.

  
“He seems to think so.” Dora shrugged.

Adeline switched out for a new memory.

 

This time, when the memory formed, they saw their Harry seated at the bedside of another Harry—though one much thinner, and shorter, and less healthy looking. The second Harry looked like he’d cried himself to sleep.

“Gods… is that what would have happened to Harry had he been left with the Dursleys all this time?” Andromeda asked, horrified.  
“He looks like a famine victim. How can no one have noticed?” Remus demanded right after.

 

Their Harry sighed and patted his hair, before rising and striding out of the room. They found themselves following behind him as he traipsed through a cavern filled with stalagmites and stalagtites of massive proportions, and then to a building with a snake-covered door that was incongruously sitting in the middle of all of it.

_“Open”_

“I guess you don’t need fancy passwords if you’re the only one who can speak the language.” Ted laughed.

Tom Riddle was seated between Salazar Slytherin’s feet, looking rather morose. He stood at Harry’s approach.

_“Hey.”_   
_“Is he…?”_   
_“He’s sleeping. Recovering that particular set of memories takes a lot out of you. He, at least, didn’t have a group of goblins with swords nearby ready to take off his head while it happened.”_

They watched the memory play out and stood again.

“So, he apologized. Big deal. It’s not really something you can apologize for!” Sirius snarled.

“It’s not…and yet…” Adeline sighed. .

Sirius turned away from the bowl and ran his hands through his hair in agitation while Adeline switched out the memories for the next one.

“Sirius?”

“Yeah. Might as well get it over with.”

 

They followed Harry up a winding stone staircase to a balcony, where Tom Riddle stood wreathed in shadows, staring up at the stars.  
He must have sensed Harry’s presence, because he began speaking as soon as Harry reached the doorway.

_“I didn’t tell you earlier, but I retrieved the diadem as well…._   
_My counterpart started screeching at me, and enumerating the many, many horrors I would face for my betrayal, but I wasn’t listening. I was too transfixed by what I had become…_

Remus sighed as he felt a twinge of sympathy while the boy spoke of his other self. His years as a werewolf made him all too aware of what it was like to lose your mind and be out of control due to dark magic. He’d been an unwilling victim, unlike that boy…and yet, he’d been so young. They don’t know where he’d learned of the things. Had he not known what he was doing? He just didn’t know.

“So…in an alternate universe, Voldemort was running around causing havoc for a few years, you were never released from Azkaban, Barty was a death eater and he and Pettigrew were trying to help resurrect Voldemort to full strength…and that world’s Harry looked like a prisoner…or a famine victim.” He said instead.

“And our world’s Voldemort helped fix things. It’s a funny old world, isn’t it?” Barty sighed.

"These have all been rather intimate scenes he’s given us.” Melania noted.

“They’re very open with one another aren’t they? Sometimes, getting information out of Harry is like pulling teeth.” Sirius grumbled.

“Harry said a couple of times during these memories that his counterpart would sense something missing if Voldemort were gone. He says it very plainly, and Tom seems to just accept it as a given fact. They act like they’re connected in some way.” Andromeda mused.

“It is strange, isn’t it? They argue upon first meeting, but then just fall into step together like it’s natural to do so--and they just stayed together afterwards.” Dora agreed.

"Do you think…" Adeline trailed off.  
"No." Sirius cut her off, voice flat.

"Sirius. If they're… _involved,_ we won't be doing Harry any favors by just pretending otherwise."

"What's your gut feeling about it all?" Dora asked curiously.

"Mine? Well…" she considered the memories they'd just viewed "I don't think they _are_ , but the potential is there. I think we all saw that much."

"We're stuck with him then?" Sirius asked, eyes flinty.

"It does rather look that way." Adeline said apologetically.

“James and Lily must be rolling in their graves.” Remus said with real horror.

“If any part of that first memory was real, we already know they’re not happy. They wanted him to suffer eternally…as in actual eternity.” Dora noted.

  
“Yeah, no offense to you two, I know they were your friends and all but…” Barty began “I have to say I’m with the kid in this, even if he just thought he was helping him pass on normally, not come back to life. He was obviously already suffering, and was mad and broken besides and it wasn’t enough for them. I mean, yeah, I get it, he killed them…but Harry was right. It was quick, and it was over and they were in a better place, and they obviously knew why he was like he was, but that wasn’t enough for them.”

Sirius said nothing; he’d been thinking much the same when he saw them.

“When is Harry returning?” Arcturus asked.

  
“End of the week.” Adeline replied.

  
“Very well, we’ll regroup then and discuss everything further. I think we’ll all agree we already have a lot to process.” Melania offered.

 

 

 

Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place without fanfare at week’s end.

“Where’s your worse half?” Sirius sighed upon spotting him.

“Who?" Harry asked curiously. "Tom? He's off meeting with various people to get the next stage of Operation: Emigration off the ground. We’re actually ahead of schedule, since we captured all of Britain and Ireland at summertime. We’re hoping things continue to go well, and that we’ll have at least the northern hemisphere by year’s end. That should give us plenty of power to capture the southern hemisphere by next summer solstice.”

“Yeah…about this whole traveling to another world thing…”

“You want to know more about where we’re going.” Harry interrupted. “I expected that. In fact, I’ve put together a sort of memory journey of the place. When everyone gets here we can get started. Are they all coming?”

“Yup, the whole gang: Grandfather and grandmother, Ted and Andromeda, Barty and Dora, Remus and Charity.”

“Charity?.”

“Professor Burbage, Muggle Studies. She’s Remus’ girlfriend. School’s out for the summer, so I imagine he’ll be bringing her along.”

“Really? I had no idea. They’ve been quite discreet.”

“They’re professors in a school full of nosy children. Of course they’ve been discreet.”

  
“Hmmm…it occurs to me that Professor Burbage might not like the proposed move all that much. Her field will be, not obsolete, as there are still muggles in the new world, but greatly outdated and in need of a complete overhaul.”

“Having second thoughts?”

“Not at all. I was just thinking I’d be sad for Remus if she decided to stay and he didn’t. Hopefully she’ll see it as an adventure of sorts.”

Over the next hour, everyone who’d been invited showed up and gathered in the study again.  
Harry unrolled a scroll and popped out something that looked like a pensieve, but was larger and shallower, and took up most of the one end of the desk.

“It’s a pensieve for group tours. Tom and I worked on it over the last week."

"Wait, what? I thought you were at the Dursleys!" Sirius spluttered.

"I was. I was also shopping for food and other things to stockpile at Potter Keep for the move. Tom and I met up a few times there and he helped me get things sorted, and we made these because we figured there’d be a lot of people who wanted to see the other world, and it would be easier if we could show groups of people at once. I tried to include a variety of places to really show the range of what’s there—obviously, even in the year that I was travelling all over I didn’t see everything, but as we were flying above the ground most of the time, you do get to see pretty far in every direction in a lot of the memories I’ve included. The first stop is the home of the southern water tribe, which is where I started my own journey, after that we’ll just let the memories play out as they will. I’ll tell you what I can about each place as it starts up.”

Harry had tried to include an equal number of memories that showed the heavily populated areas, as well as the huge swaths of completely empty spaces, as well as the low and high end of technology in the world—which of course meant showing them some of the battles he and the others had been in. He figured they needed to be honest about what was waiting for all of them on the other side—they were all going to be living there soon. He didn’t want people choosing to go under false pretenses.

When the presentation was over, they all took their seats, stunned and speechless.

“You…you!” Sirius mumbled, unable to form words.

“You could have been killed!” Adeline roared for him.

“I could have been, but only if I was very sloppy. I do value my own life enough that I tried very hard not to be.” Harry replied calmly, much to everyone’s dismay.

“Why would you even take part in their blasted war?” Remus wondered.

“Well, that’s what I actually went there for—an adventure. I didn’t go there with the intention of setting anchors to pull the wizarding population to another world, I can assure you. I wanted to get away from the cotton wool everyone seems intent on wrapping me in. I’ve tried telling all of you repeatedly that I can take care of myself, but everyone seems convinced I’m going to die horribly if I go outside the house by myself. I wanted adventure and freedom and I found it. The whole emigration of wizards came later." Harry huffed, rolling his eyes.

  
"Anyway, as you could see, the best of their technology was no real match for us. They lost most of their fleet of warships in that one battle, and we wiped out most of their tanks after that, and a magical dance flung their soldiers right off the edge of the continent and into the sea. Their faith in their technology has been well and truly shaken. The spirits of the world started making themselves heard, and the spirit of the earth itself welcomed magic in and helped it set anchors to bring us there to keep the scientific revolution from ever getting further off the ground than it already had. We can help guide development from this point forward to be something that will make the muggles lives easier without compromising our wellbeing or that of the magical creatures that come with us. Not only that, but the muggles there aren’t quite muggles like we know them—they’re closer to wizards than the muggles of this world are, which is why we said that by our standards, they’d qualify as squibs.”

 

“It is beautiful there. I can’t remember a time I’ve seen so many places that were completely, or almost completely unspoiled…or whole countries worth of good land that are empty! I can hardly believe it. So many places…” Arcturus mused.

Harry packed the pensieve back up in a scroll, then undid another seal and unrolled a large world map of the new world.

“We made as accurate a map as we could manage, by building off ones that were already available there. We spent some time really looking at some of the places and getting rough estimates of population and what have you, as well as average temperatures, standard climate and whatever else we could think of.”

When he unrolled it, it showed simply a standard map, with countries and terrain types delineated by color.

“This chain of islands here is Fire Nation. It’s mostly tropical climate, though these islands here and here fall in the temperate range. All this over here is Earth Kingdom—light green is meadows and grasslands, medium green is hills, dark green is forest, grey is mountains, brown is desert scrubland, tan is sand dune desert. The scattered dots show oases and mesas. There are desert peoples living out there, and I don’t think what’s available would really support any more population than what’s already there.”

“This” he tapped the map again “Shows the average temperature range over the year”

The map changed to banded colors-red in the center, orange, yellow, green and blue as you got further north and south.

“And this” he tapped the map a final time “Shows population density. The red dots show where there are people. The black areas are empty.”

“Most of the world is empty.” Barty realized.

“Yep, not just the trackless desert, not just the towering mountain ranges, not just the icebergs at the poles—the good land, the places people can live. We could scatter wizarding communities far and wide and breed like rabbits for a hundred years and we’ll barely be a blip on this place. They didn’t have a sizeable world population before the whole hundred years war—afterwards? Yeah, the place is practically empty, for all that there are a lot of heavily populated spots scattered about.” Harry agreed.

Professor Burbage had been very quiet through the whole presentation. She looked over at Harry.

“Do you really hate muggles so very much?” She asked with distaste as she stared down her nose at him. “I’m rather surprised to see the son of Lily and James Potter come out as a blood purist. Wouldn’t your parents be _ashamed.”_

Harry leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach, and his eyes went cold and hard. He really really disliked it when people tried using his dead parents to make him roll over and present his belly like a good little doggy. For this woman, who didn’t know him but barely from the very few times he’d had reason to interact with her, to do it—well, that really pissed him off.

Harry smiled, like a shark scenting blood in the water. Charity found herself freezing under that stare.

“I want to be able to fly my broom whenever I want to. I want to be able to openly wear and use my wand. I want to be able to apparate. I want to be able to walk down the street without watching for airplanes, or helicopters, or hidden video cameras…or wondering whether there’s a satellite in space right then taking pictures of Hogwarts. I don’t want to worry about nuclear weapons wiping us off the face of the earth. I don’t want to worry about witches and wizards being captured, their wands taken, and being held prisoner so they can be cut open and studied, or used as breeders in a super soldier program. I am a wizard and I want to be able to be what I am, without fear, without hiding, without spending my life confined to a few scattered pockets hidden behind filthy, urine-smelling back alleys filled with garbage! I want to have clean water and clean air and clean earth that isn’t filled with chemicals that react poorly to magic. If you have objections to that, then by all means, Madame, choose to stay and be a muggle when the choice is given you. I will be emigrating come the solstice next summer.”

Charity just sat there wide-eyed, with her mouth hanging open, while the rest of them stared at Harry askance. He was usually laid back and seemed not to worry about things much—it was strange for most of them to hear him speak so passionately about anything.

“Gee, Harry…tell us how you really feel.” Barty joked to break the tension.

“ _I just did_.” Harry replied, not giving an inch.

Charity looked around and saw that no one seemed to be leaping to her defense, or smacking down the arrogant child who’d just spoken to her so disrespectfully. Her chin jutted out stubbornly and she rose from her seat.

“Remus.”

Remus smiled apologetically to the rest of them and rose to stand beside her. Once he’d done so, she marched out of the room ahead of him with her nose in the air.

 _“I’ll be in touch_ ” he mouthed to Sirius as they left.

 _“Bitch.”_ Harry muttered once she was out of earshot.

“Harry.” Adeline scolded, though there was no heat in her voice when she did so.

 

“So…you really went to another world. That’s…wow.” Dora interjected to get them past the awkward moment.

“Yep.”

“I can’t believe you did that. How did you do that?”

“I made an interdimensional gateway opener. I can’t take all the credit though. Tom actually created the thing. I gave him the idea in between remorsing horcruxes. He ran with it and came up with a working prototype before I undid the last one. I got enough of the theory behind it I was able to make my own. Ironically, we ended up in the same world.”

“And we’re really all just going to get, what, pulled into a new world, just like that?” Adeline asked.

“We’ll need the power generated by the entire worldwide wizarding community, and all the magical creatures of the world on the next summer solstice to manage it, but yeah. If our calculations are correct, we won’t even really notice the transition unless we leave the area we’re in and realize that there’s forest or a meadow beyond it, rather than a smelly London street or whatever.”

“What even gave you such a crazy idea?”

“Magic did, that and an old story Tom read somewhere, or remembered. We’re not really sure which—his memory is a bit wonky. Wizards didn’t originate in this world. We came here from somewhere else because the world we were in had become untenable for our continued existence. We’ve been here a long time, but not forever. We originated elsewhere. Now, the same thing has happened again, and it’s time to move on to somewhere else. Magic knows it won’t last much longer here. It will be leaving come summer solstice. We have the choice to go with her, or to stay behind and make a life as muggles---anyone who chooses to stay really won’t have a choice in the matter. All the magical places, people, creatures, beings, plants—all of it, will be leaving the world. It is happening. There is no stopping it or changing it. The only thing left to do is make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. I’ll be the anchor at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is on a natural node that has several sizeable ley lines feeding into it. Tom and I are both Founders heirs, which connects us to the castle, and therefore to the node. That makes it the perfect focal point. We both served as the focal point of this year’s summer solstice dance. His former followers are all connected to him, and they’ll be scattered across as many wizarding communities as they can manage for the next three quarters, and then rejoining us at Hogwarts next summer. It all comes together then.”

“That’s just…”

“Yeah. I do hope Charity Burbage isn’t going to be a problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“You saw how she acted. I don’t want her getting a bunch of people riled up that this is some muggle-hating-destroy-them-all scheme and trying to disrupt things. A muggle-loving versus wizard-loving war is the last thing we need right now. Accusing someone of being a blood purist has become such hot button, it evokes an almost Pavlovian response in wizards. I don’t want to see large swathes of our people getting stranded just because they don’t understand what’s really going on.”

“I guess that will be our job. To help spread the word and get people doing what needs doing to be ready.” Barty mused.

A huge amount of tension that hadn’t been noticeable till that moment melted out of Harry.

“Harry?”

“I wasn’t sure if you would all choose to go or not.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Arcturus wondered.

“Adeline has a muggle law degree. Sirius was rather vehemently anti-wizard when I first met him. Dora used to go around telling people her dad is a muggle. I just wasn’t sure.”

“But you were planning on going regardless.” Sirius asked, his voice flat.

Harry met his eyes and nodded, just once. “I’m only, well technically almost fifteen for all that my birth certificate says otherwise, and I already feel stifled to the point of madness by the wizarding world as it stands right now. That feeling drove me to seek out another world where I could just be, without having to creep around and spend my life looking over my shoulder. Having experienced that freedom…I could never go back and just live in this world, not as it is. I can’t. I certainly won’t stay here when all the magic leaves.” He concluded softly. “That said, I’m really glad to know you’ll all be there too.”

“Aw. I think that calls for a group hug!” Dora gushed.

They all looked at each other and shrugged, before standing and doing just that.

 

“Alright.” Arcturus announced once their gushy moment was over. “We should probably all brainstorm a bit about what needs doing, who needs to go where and do what.”

“Maybe we should join the others at their meeting so we’re not just retreading the same ground or duplicating things they’re already planning on doing.” Melania suggested.

“Yes, that probably would be best. We only have a year to get ready to transition an entire people. The less time and effort wasted the better.” Arcturus agreed.

“Uh…” Sirius spluttered.

“No, it’s a good idea. The folks that’ll be at this meeting will be folks that joined the Knights of Walpurgis and wanted tighter borders and things. The folks that became the crazy murderous death eaters ended up in Azkaban.” Harry reassured him.

Harry dug out his cell phone and hit speed dial one.

_“Tom? Yeah, they’re all on board, though we might have to keep an ear to the ground for Charity Burbage trying to rile up people against what we’re doing. Remus’ girlfriend. She’s the muggle studies professor at Hogwarts’. Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking as well. Uh, huh, she left here in a right snit after I told her off but good. You’re getting started now? Alright, yeah, hold things for a few minutes so we have time to get there.”_

Harry shut the phone and looked at the others, who were all staring at him. "What?"

"You were, uh, speaking parseltounge." Dora explained.

“Oh. Heh. They’re about to get started. They’re at Lucius’ and Narcissa’s house. Lucius should be opening the floo right now.”

"I can’t believe we’re all heading off to a death eater meeting.” Adeline sighed.

“I know…life’s funny that way sometimes.” Harry snickered. He packed up the map alongside the pensieve in the scroll he’d brought, tucked it away, and followed the rest as they headed towards the floo.

 

When they arrived in the Malfoys’ ballroom, even Harry was a bit surprised at the number of people that were gathered there, and he had a rough idea of what to expect. He recognized some of them—The Crabbes, The Goyles, the Notts, Professor Snape—he hoped Tom had actually gotten a good read on the man before including him—others he knew from seeing them around at different parties and functions, or in the alleys when he went shopping. A ripple of surprise went through parts of the group when they arrived—Sirius was known as a fervent anti-death eater supporter of Dumbledore during the last war, Barty’s father was the man responsible for leading the fight against them, Dora and Adeline were half-blood light supporters, Ted was a muggleborn and Andromeda had married him. He himself had supposedly led to their downfall the last time around.

Harry pretended to ignore the ripple of shock directed at himself, though in truth he was watching as a few idiots fingered their wands, obviously with the thought in mind that Tom would somehow appreciate them cursing him. He took great satisfaction in the gobsmacked looks on those faces when their more level-headed friends grabbed them and hissed very intently into their ears…though what was even better was the look on their faces when they glanced up to the front of the room at Tom and found him glaring baleful death at them for even considering it.

There was one idiot who had no level headed friends nearby, and who obviously didn’t listen to gossip. He raised his wand just as Harry was taking his seat, in a section filled with Melting Pot folks. It was rather satisfying how they all raised their wands and pointed it at the guy almost in unison. Crabbe and Goyle, bless their hearts, even surged up just behind him to crack their knuckles and look threatening. The guy looked around, gulped, and hurriedly put his wand away.

Harry, he lounged back in his chair and grinned at everyone. He didn’t bother looking worried or reaching for his wand.

 

“If we could all get started?” Tom called out over the crowd. Everyone quieted down and directed their attention to him.

**“The summer solstice at Hogwarts this year was a very special time indeed. It was no simple dance, no. It was the first step in the great migration of our people to a new world and a new freedom…”**

Harry spent as much time watching the crowd as he did his friend. Tom was a born orator. He seemed to have an instinctive knack for working a crowd. It was easy to see why the original Knights of Walpurgis thought Tom would be the perfect figurehead for their movement. He also understood why Dumbledore took such a wholehearted dislike to the boy, and wanted him destroyed down to the very soul—he was dangerous. He was not only magically gifted, highly intelligent, and very good looking, he was the sort of person who drew others like a moth to a flame, even when he wasn’t trying to. Hell, crazy-ass Voldemort, with his rotting body, snake-face and tendency to crucio and kill at the drop of a hat was still reeling folks in by the cartload right up until the last days of the war.

  
He’d had so many advantages and they’d all been used in the worst way possible—he’d destroyed so much, hurt so many people…himself included. He really had to wonder how different the world would look right now if Tom had never gone mad, never fell prey to all his worst instincts…  
Maybe, one day, they’d find a world where that had happened, just so he could see. He was rather curious now.

  
All around him, the crowd was leaning slightly forward, lips parted and eyes shining as Tom painted a picture of a glorious paradise for all wizarding kind with words alone. He was like a modern-day wizard Moses or something.

He found himself rather losing track of the speech, and realized he was just watching Tom. Worse, he was getting that squirmy feeling in his stomach again, and the room seemed a little too warm.

What was Tom talking about? Oh…yeah, the great wizard migration. It was very important. The lives of all magical beings could well depend on it….very important…it might mean the difference between life and death.

He really needed to pull himself together. He tried desperately to think of something, anything else. Dumbledore in a bikini. There, that was better, his head was clearing just a bit. Just in time too…they were getting to the planning stages.

“Stockpile what food you can, enough to last a few months at least. Lay in stockpiles of animal feed, seeds—for any sort of vegetable or grain you want to be able to eat again. As we spread word across the different continents, those there will be told the same. They have some vegetables and fruits that are the same as we have, but the rest are all very different—not bad, just different. If you don’t want to completely change your diet, make sure you have the means to grow the things you’re used to. The animals there are all hybrids—sheep pigs, goat pigs, moose lions, platypus bears, turtle ducks—you get the picture. We did encounter one bear who was just a bear—it was quite famous, not only for being the pet of the king of the Earth Kingdom, but because it was just a bear. If there are singular animals you don’t want to do without, make sure you acquire a breeding pair at the very least. Those herbologists among us—try to get seeds and seedlings for as many magical plants as you can manage. If all works as expected, everything magical should be coming with us, but it would be best to prepare for the worst, or the fields of herbology and potions making may well be set back centuries while we try to find things with similar properties in the new world. At the very least, the magical plants, and animals, might be scattered across the new world and we’d have to go looking for them, which would leave the hospital and such in bad shape for months, if not years, while we tried tracking everything down.”

  
A giant map of the world that showed all the magical communities, animal preserves, gardens, plantations, colonies of creatures was suspended behind Tom. All of Britain, Ireland, and a few tiny islands around it where there were magical preserves hidden away, were all lit up in red.

  
“This map shows all the existing magical communities worldwide. As you can see, we have thus far only captured a very small part of the whole—never fear, we have the coming autumn equinox, winter solstice and spring equinox to gather in the rest. The summer solstice dance at Hogwarts formed the anchor that will tether the rest of the magical communities together when the time is right. We need volunteers who were part of the solstice ritual to head out across the globe for the coming three quarters to gather in the rest before next summer….”

It took hours—everyone argued back and forth the best way to get the most coverage. Plans were made for envoys to be sent to Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, to take part in the autumn equinox there, so that when the students returned home for winter, they could capture their individual communities across northern and southern Europe. Sirius and Adeline and a few others would be heading out to India at the same time; the Blacks owned property there, and there were distant cousins who lived there. Arcturus and Melania would be heading to Africa, as would a few others—it was a very large continent, and wizarding communities were scattered across the whole of it. Andromeda and Ted were going to be going to Hong Kong. Barty and Nymphadora along with a few others, would be heading to the Middle East. They’d be having another big meeting after autumn solstice in order to gauge their progress, and make further plans to gather up Asia and Australia by winter, and then hopefully the Americas and Canada by spring. After that was hashed out, a new set of arguments erupted over who should gather food, who livestock—whether it should be everyone or just the ‘peasants’—how much of each, where to get it, how best to store it, when the best time to be acquiring animals would be…. On and on and on.

He knew this wasn’t the end of it, of course—these arguments would be raging back and forth right up until summer solstice itself. Everyone here today would go home and talk over what had been discussed with families, clans and associates, and at the next big meeting, everything would start up all over again.

Tom stayed alert and serious, and kept control of the meeting all throughout—but Harry could see he was starting to get a headache.

While all the adults were arguing, Harry gathered up all his Melting Pot folks, and they had a smaller, separate, quieter meeting of their own. Unlike the adults in the room, all of them were old hat at setting up committees and central communications points.

They rejoined the larger meeting as it was rolling around to arguing the same points for the third time. Harry joined Tom at the front of the room and whistled for everyone’s attention. Tom gave him a look, but let him take the floor without fuss.

“All right, everyone, we’re starting to repeat ourselves. Now, who here has a cell phone?”

Suprisingly, about half of the hands in the room went up.

“Good. Everyone who doesn’t have one, get one. It will make coordinating things much easier. If you don’t know where to go, ask someone with their hand up after the meeting is over.”

He signaled Pansy and Draco, who started handing out papers.

“What you are getting now is a list of names and phone numbers. If you suddenly remember something you forgot to bring up, or if in later talks with families and friends someone brings up something that seems like an important point that wasn’t covered here tonight, you can forward the information to one of the people listed here. All thoughts and suggestions will be noted and compiled to be brought up at the next big meeting. You’ll notice each name has a general subject heading. If you have a question or concern about animals—magical, mundane, what have you—direct your question or concern to the appropriate person. Do not call the liaison in charge of community grabbing with questions about animals. Do not call the animal liaison with questions about food. Understood? Good. Does everyone have a list? Good. Now, you will see in the center of the room two unusual pensieves.”

Crabbe and Goyle brought out tables which they set up some distance from one another and then set up his and Tom’s pensieve on each.

“In each of these are memories of the new world. The selection therein will give you a good feel for what the place is like. We tried to include a bit of everything—the poles, the tropics, the temperate regions, the desert, the high mountains. Obviously this set of memories is not all inclusive. We flew over a lot of these places, but didn’t get down on the ground and take a good look around. You will see not only the lands, but some of the people that are there. You will also get to see both the high and low end of their technology…and what became of most of the high end stuff.”

He and Tom shared a glance and snickered.

“There are magic users there. They are not like us. They are elementalists, and are limited to a single element. We do not know if that would change if they were given wands, we didn’t check. There are muggles, but really they qualify more as squibs. They can see spirits, they can fly brooms and carpets the same as the elemental mages there can. Their populations are small overall, though there are a few densely populated regions. Most of the world is empty. We will have room to spread out and continue doing so for generations to come. You are welcome to view the memories—please no more to a group than can comfortably fit around the table. We would much prefer our memories not end up getting knocked to the floor and trampled underfoot because someone got impatient and started jostling. While you are waiting your turn to see the memories, you are welcome to peruse the world maps we have prepared. They will give you a good idea of the layout of the place, and supplementary maps of the climate, average temperatures and the like can be gotten with a tap of a wand. Now, are there any questions?”

“Yeah. Who died and put you in charge?”

“That would be me.” Tom said blandly. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Uh…n-no. No, milord. Not at all. Glad to have him, really.”

As the meeting started to break up and everyone started milling around the maps and pensieves, Tom swept out of the room, striding tall, until he came to a small sitting room a distance away.

Once out of sight of everyone, he rubbed his temples. He glanced to the side, surprised, to find Harry had followed him out. He pulled his hands away and started massaging his forehead and temples for him.

 

“Thanks for ending the meeting when you did. I was about to start crucioing everyone.”

“Yeah, I saw you were getting a headache”

Tom looked at him, and Harry rolled his eyes.

“I doubt anyone but me realized, but even if they did, so what? You’re not allowed to get headaches from people who just keep arguing in circles?”

“It’s a sign of weakness.”

“It’s a sign that, hey, maybe everyone should shut the hell up, you mean. Seriously. I cannot imagine anyone who would see you getting a headache from the endless arguing and say _‘mwahaha, weakness!’_. I think most people would be all _‘hey, boss-man’s at the end of his rope. Maybe we should shut up Johnny-talks-a-lot and hit the road, huh?’._ ”

“Johnny-talks-a-lot?” Tom repeated with a grin.

“Yeah, nice guy, Johnny; he has a brother named Bobby-full-of-hot-air, and a sister named Sally-runs-at-the-mouth. They’re all part of the Loquacious family.”

Tom snickered delightedly. “You have such a demented sense of humor.”

“Thanks, I guess. Headache better?”

“Yes, it is.”

Harry realized how close they were standing and stepped back with a wan smile before turning away, suddenly nervous and unsettled. Tom reached out as thought to halt his movement, but froze as they both heard the ballroom empty out.

"Looks like everyone's heading out. I guess I should go."

"I'll walk you out."

Harry flashed him a small smile and started for the door. Tom sighed, rubbed a hand over his face and then straightened before following after him.


	3. Hope and Rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville gets some hope for the future and Harry leads a rebellion at the World Cup.

The summer started passing more swiftly after that first big meeting. It might have just been the new sense of purpose everyone had, it might have been the sense of the clock slowly ticking down the minutes and the hours that they had left in the world. 

Tom was gone a lot—his death eaters and the rank and file yahoos who had volunteered to help out with the great migration, all seemed to need a lot of hand-holding, in Harry’s opinion. There seemed to be not a day that went by in which he was wasn’t called away to answer questions, speak before groups, address concerns, or just reassure them. 

 

Harry had his own hand-holding to do. The corporation board meeting that summer was less about the corporation, and more about the move. The goblins grumbled a lot about the trouble it would be, disengaging from the muggle world, but he thought they were relieved overall. They were even more constrained than wizards were by secrecy. They were looking forward to being able to spread out and explore a bit. They were really looking forward to wand rights. It had been one of the things Tom had promised them, back in his Voldemort days. Some spot to call their own and the right to own a wand and wield it. 

The move to the new world meant no more secrecy. There were endless mountain ranges all over the new world that were completely uninhabited. No secrecy meant no ministry, which meant there was technically no one to tell them they couldn’t have it. He’d already had meetings with all the local wand makers about fitting the goblins and other magical beings for wands once they arrived in the new world, and they were on board. This waiting promise meant the goblins were being very accommodating so far as doing their part to see to it the move was trouble free and successful. 

That was the rest of the goblins; those who were part of the board grilled Harry endlessly for everything he knew about the banking system and economy of the new world, what sort of goods were available, and what raw materials.

It was a rather productive meeting overall. It got the board members up to speed on what was happening, and what steps were being taken by those already in the know to make things progress smoothly. It also gave them a chance to throw around ideas for possible things to do once in the new world. 

In truth, Harry was rather concerned about imparting the news to the board at large—Percy Weasley, a ministry-loving sycophant if ever there was one, in spite of the changes he’d gone through, was a member. He was also a Weasley, which meant he’d be sharing the news with the extended Weasley clan, which meant both Dumbledore and the Ministry might start throwing their weight around more trying to stop things. 

He had talked it over with Tom, and they had decided it was worth the risk, as it meant more parts of society would have forewarning of what was coming, and would be able to make plans to either facilitate the move, or vacate the wizarding areas altogether and prepare for life as a muggle. 

He had pointed out that, even if the Ministry and Dumbledore did convince the Weasleys and other Dumbledore worshipping idiots to do nothing, none of his people were going to stop making preparations, nor would it keep them from travelling across the globe to capture the other wizarding areas. So far as Tom was concerned, it was a win-win situation. At worst, they’d be drug along with the rest of them, but less prepared. At best, the hard-core Ministry stooges and Dumbledore and his lackeys would be left behind. 

With those thoughts in mind, he told no one who didn’t already know details exactly how it was to be accomplished, just that it was coming sometime next year and they’d best prepare.  
Justin and Dean took the news hard, as was to be expected. At this point, he really didn’t know which way they’d choose. He supposed he’d know based on whether or not they showed up for Hogwarts in the fall. 

“Well, we covered a lot today. With everything going on, it would be rather pointless to have more board meetings until after the move. Most of us will be stuck at Hogwarts from fall onward, so any preparations we need done will have to be done during the remainder of the summer—anything left will have to be done by our families.” 

He suppressed a wince when his words caused Justin and Dean to both slump miserably in their seats. He continued on as though he hadn’t noticed. 

“So, with that thought in mind, I hereby declare this board defunct until after the move. We will readjourn next summer.”

In ones and twos, the other members left. They were using Harry’s house for the meeting, since it meant they could just hang out without parents hovering over their shoulders. When everyone but Neville was gone, Harry finally got out of his seat and stretched.

“Alright, Nev?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.” 

Harry prodded as he led them out of the great hall and into one of the nearby sitting rooms. A tray with tea and some light snacks appeared on the table nearby once they were seated, and Harry busied himself pouring out tea for both of them, to give Neville a chance to decide whether he wanted to spill his guts or not.

“I guess it's just all this stuff about the move. You've got your whole family to help you get ready. I guess I'm just worried about my gran trying to do everything herself. I can help out a bit now, but I'll be stuck in Hogwarts most of the year. I guess with everything happening I've just been missing my parents more than usual." 

Harry looked at his friend for a moment and then abruptly rose. 

“Hang on a sec, would you, Neville. I’ll be right back.” 

Harry ducked downstairs and called Itsy, and sent her off to retrieve the almost empty bottle of whiskey which he’d turned into elixir of life a few years ago. He measured out a bit into two vials after some quick calculations, and then put the vials into a small, nondescript box, before returning to where his friend was waiting. 

Harry handed over the box after sitting back down.

 

“This is something I’ve been sitting on for a while. Before you get too upset with me, let me explain. What you have in your hand there is elixir of life. Do you remember the mirror of Erised?”

At Neville’s nod, Harry continued.

“As near as I’ve been able to figure out—though mind you, this is just my own speculation, that mirror was a gift to Dumbledore from Nicholas Flamel. I got a philosopher’s stone out of it. I heard through the grapevine after that whole mess with Quirrel that the mirror was down the forbidden corridor behind a bunch of traps. I think the mirror actually makes stones on command if you can pass the character test. That’s the only explanation I can think of for why there was never any rumor or cry about the stone being stolen. So, yeah, I got a philsopher’s stone, much to my surprise, early on first year. I was kinda confused, so I stuck it down deep in my trunk and mostly forgot about it. When I got home that summer, I thought, oh yeah, I got that stone…. Remus was having a particularly bad time of it, as it was real close to the full moon and he was in really bad shape. I thought to myself, hey, maybe if I give him some elixir he’d feel better. I went and looked up what an elixir actually is—it’s an active ingredient in a solution of alcohol. So, I ground up the stone and dumped it in a bottle of whiskey—because whiskey is known as the water of life, right? Then, I gave Remus a shot of the stuff. He turned into a baby.”

“That time I went to your house, and you were all making tubs of aging solution.”

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t have weird accidental magic…you cured him.”

“By accident, yeah. We cooked up that whole story because of the stone being involved. Remus, Sirius and Adeline cured all the werewolves who locked themselves away and refused to be cannibals. Once they got them all, they told the Ministry where the cannibals were that liked targeting kids and let them round them up.”

“If you’ve had this stuff all this time…!”

“You promised to let me explain.” Harry reminded him. “What you have in your hands is the last of it. The rest of it was all used up to cure werewolves. I almost gave it to you, so many times…the thing that always stopped me is that I didn’t want to get your hopes up, and then have them come crashing down.”

“Why would…”

“Everyone always says your parents were driven mad, Nev. This stuff reverses damage to the body—even dark curses, as I found out quite by accident. It doesn’t affect the mind. Nev…if your parents are actually mad, the only thing this will do it remove all signs of damage to their bodies…and give them an extra decade in the long term care ward. That’s why I sat on it, because I just don’t know what will happen. And, that isn’t all. Think about it for a second. It’s elixir of life. The last of it. If anyone realizes, they probably won’t believe me when I say I don’t have more. I’ll still have people trying to break down my door to get at it. They probably won’t believe you if you tell them you don’t have more either. And, if your parents don’t come back to themselves, they’ll be vulnerable to attack by people looking for the secret—even if they have to take it from their very blood. Do you understand now why I hesitated to speak of it?”

“Why give it to me then?”

“Because it isn’t fair to you or to them to not even try. This is probably their best hope and we both know it. I just don’t know if it’s real hope or a false one. I wish I could be certain.”

“If it doesn’t work, I don’t want people trying to attack them and take their blood.”

“That’s why some creativity is called for. Go tell your gran everything I told you—make sure you’re someplace private, no portraits or anything, no floo nearby, swear the elves to secrecy. Have your gran get them out of the hospital and say she’s taking them off somewhere remote and far away, because she heard a rumor of a mystical spring or something that only appears every hundred years. Say it’s in the middle of the Sahara or something. Go someplace private and try it. If you return and they look healthy, people will think it was the miraculous spring that healed their bodies. Stay gone for a few weeks. If they’re still lost in their minds, you’ll have time to try to bring them back to themselves. If it doesn’t work…by the time you return, there won’t be traces for anyone to find of what was used. You can just tell a story of the horrid travails you all suffered for a partial cure. Who knows, with the physical damage gone, the healers might be able to do something for their minds if the stuff doesn’t help.” 

Neville carefully tucked the box away and stood. 

“I’m gonna…”

“Yeah.”

“Even if it doesn’t work…thanks. You’re a good friend, Harry.”

“I’m a lousy friend. I should have given you this years ago.” 

“No, you were right to sit on it. If you’d have given me this two years ago, and it didn’t work… I’m older now. It’ll still hurt, but I think I’ll be able to deal. Two years ago, I don’t think I could have. That’s why you’re a good friend. I know you, Harry. This wasn’t an easy decision for you. You made the choice you did for me, even if you convinced yourself you were being selfish. Thank you for that.”

Harry watched him leave with mixed feelings. No matter what he said, he knew if it didn’t work he’d be completely gutted. There was a chance he’d resent him for the false hope, even if he didn’t want to. He might end up losing his best friend over this. 

_“Now, I’m being selfish. You can’t withhold a possible cure on the off chance you might end up unhappy because of it. Stop being a jerk.”_ he said quietly.

“You’re not a jerk. You’re also probably the least selfish person I’ve ever met.”

 

Harry jumped and spun to find Tom watching him from the doorway.

“How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.” Tom sighed as he moved further into the room. 

He came to an awkward stop in front of him, hands in his pocket. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“That you seem to keep hurting yourself cleaning up my messes, or trying to.”

“You didn’t torture Neville’s parents.”

“My followers did, while searching for me.”

“Still.”

“You’re entirely too forgiving sometimes…not that I’m complaining, as it’s worked out quite well for me.” 

Harry gave him a wan smile in return and called Itsy to bring some tea and snacks for them both.

“How’s the food gathering going?”

“Quite well. I have most of it done. I still have to go for spices, a few more seeds, and odds and ends. You should check out the pantries when you have a chance. The master list is in the study if you want to see it. You should in any case, to see if there’s anything you want that didn’t get included.”

“I can’t believe how swiftly the summer has already gotten away from us.”

“I know, my birthday is in two days, and then we’ll only have August before I have to go back to school.” 

“Don’t remind me. I’ll busy enough that I’m sure the weeks will fly by, but…”

“It’s going to be strange, being back there, as a student, after so long. It was easy enough to deal with when I first returned. I was only there a few days, and classes were over and done with. I'll be going back to the actual grind of being a student this time, and stuck at Hogwarts while so much is going on. I know my part in things is important, but I guess I still feel like I should be doing more."

"You've done quite a lot, and your idea to have people phone in some of their concerns so they could be compiled and addressed at each big meeting was a good one. It's made things much more efficient by cutting down some of the endless arguing. On top of that, you'll be acting as the anchor for the whole endeavor. Your part in things is irreplaceable. I don't want to hear any more about you not doing enough."

"Fine, fine. I'll stop complaining. Want to join me in the hot tub?"

"You built another one?" Tom snickered.

"What can I say? I've grown accustomed to being able to have a nice soak whenever I want."

"Sure. Sounds lovely. I didn't see it in the courtyard when I came in."

"I put it on top of the shorter tower. You should see it. It looks really nice up there. Did you bring Nagini with you?"

"No, she's hanging out in one of the greenhouses at Lucius' place. I'll ask her next time if she wants to come along." 

 

Once they were settled in the hot water, they continued their conversation. 

"Your birthday is coming up…I'm going to hazard a guess that there won't be any big party this year. You said you and the Longbottom boy always celebrate together."

"Yeah, I imagine he and his gran will be too preoccupied with fixing Frank and Alice to worry about a birthday party. Given how everyone is concentrating on the move, it's probably just as well. I guess it'll be just a small get together with the immediate family."

Tom pursed his lips a bit and looked down at the water.

"You're invited too, if you'd like."  
"I don't think your godfather would want me there."

"I think you're worrying about nothing, really. Anyway, he needs to get used to having you around. The only way that's going to happen is if you're around."

"Well, since you're being so persuasive" Tom joked. "After that is the world cup."

"Yeah. Why are we going so early though? The game won't be for a week after we get there--not that I have anything against camping out for a week. I rather enjoyed it when we were traveling, truth to tell."

"I wanted a chance to take full advantage of the international crowd that will be there. Every wizard we can talk to and give some forewarning to can spread the word a bit between now and the equinox. Each one that does that will be one less meeting and one less speech that has to be done later. Since your godparents are going to be one of the ones heading out to capture outlying communities, I figured it was best to get them out there and meeting people. They're not the only ones of course. I'm just glad Lucius was able to come through like he did and get everyone early portkeys. Even as early as we're going, there'll be folks there who have already been camping out for a week, and I'm sure a goodly number of them will be foreign. That will give us the whole week leading up to the game to meet with them." 

"I think Luna's there already. I guess I'll hang out with her while you're all busy doing your thing. I can probably hang out a bit at the Irish encampment as well. Seamus said they're bringing enough alcohol to float England, and he assures me it's sure to be party central. Should be fun."

"I was rather hoping you'd help with the meet and greets, and help spread the word. Weren't you just complaining that you wanted to be doing more?" Tom grumbled.

"Well, yeah…but come on! Tell me truthfully--would you prefer to be stuck in hours long meetings every day while everyone drones on and on, or off in party central with the Irish?"

"I'm sure you can find time to do both." Tom huffed, before sinking down to his chin in the hot water.

Harry realized Tom was sulking. He must really want his help reeling in the foreigners. 

 

Harry's birthday did indeed pass with little fanfare. Tom showed up for it. He even had a present--a set of blank journals with nice leather covers and his family crest embossed on the front. 

"You said you wanted to organize some of your notes a bit better and get them out of the cheap muggle notebooks you had them in now."

"So I did. I can't believe you remembered that. These are great, thanks." 

Tom just nodded acceptance, but he could tell he was pleased his gift was well received. 

Adeline and Sirius exchanged a glance after watching them a few moments. Adeline raised an eyebrow and Sirius sighed in despair. 

"So…Tom…you're coming with us to the world cup tomorrow, I understand?"

"I figured since I would be here for Harry's birthday, I might as well. We're leaving rather early tomorrow. That's not a problem, is it?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the boy, who stared back, gaze flat. Sirius took a deep breath, ready to tell the little brat of an ex-dark lord where he could stick it.

Harry glanced at Tom in surprise. 

"You're coming with us? Really? That's great. I guess that means you're staying over." he finished happily. 

Sirius deflated. Adeline surreptitiously rubbed his back to calm him. 

"No. No problem at all." he managed to choke out. 

 

“What retarded moron thought this was a good place to put our portkey? Muggles keep wandering by and staring at us. Granted, they’re drunk, mad hobos…but still. I thought the Ministry’s job was supposed to be to ensure secrecy.” Harry grumbled the following morning. 

It was roughly 8 am, and the four of them were standing in an alleyway in a rough part of town gathered around and holding on to a rusty tin can. The local homeless population kept wandering by to peek at them suspiciously. Happily, most of them seemed to be drunk, high or crazy, so chances were even if they saw them disappear, no one would believe them.

“It really is a good thing we’re leaving. A few more years of such blathering incompetence is all it would take to expose us.” Tom agreed with a sneer.

“It’s time.” Sirius interjected. “3…2…1” 

A feeling like a hook behind the naval, a sense of high speed movement, a show of rainbow colors all around…and a sudden stop that would have left him sprawled on the ground, had Tom not grabbed him.

“I don’t think I like portkeys very much.” Harry groaned.

“It is disorienting the first time. Next time, start walking when you feel it slowing down. It helps.” Adeline offered.

“And no one told me this before we took the thing why, exactly?”

“Because we forget there’s still stuff you don’t know.” Sirius laughed. “Too bad your b… friend was looking out for you. I was kinda hoping to see you face-plant.”

“Why do I put up with you again?”

“8 o’ clock, Black, party of four? Alright, that’s you done. Move along, if you please. We’ve got folks coming in every few minutes. Your campsite is just down the way there, number 997. Here’s your map, enjoy your stay.” A bustling Ministry functionary told all of them rather brusquely while chivying them away. 

“Oi, Stan, your 8:10 is just about due.”

“Mind your 8:05 and let me worry about my 8:10, Roy.” The functionary, Stan apparently, huffed to his co-worker. “I swear, it’s been non-stop for going on a week, and we’re shorthanded…not to mention all the bloody muggles…ah crimeny.” 

A couple more Ministry functionaries wandered by, with a woman between them, who was staring around at everything with wide eyes. 

“Did…that slug just turn into a pot?” she asked, coming to a sudden stop.

A ministry obliviator popped up in front of her and wiped her memory, before disappearing just as quickly.

The woman blinked her eyes rather dopily and looked around, obviously confused.

“Why is everyone dressed so strangely?” she asked as the two Ministry functionaries chivvied her along. 

The four of them watched the whole spectacle with wide eyes, and then traded disturbed looks, before continuing on their way, in search of their campsite.

They met two more ministry functionaries, this time with a man between them, just before they got to their campsite.

“Does that have a moat?” the man, an obvious muggle, was asking, sounding perplexed. 

An obliviator popped up in front of him and disappeared. The functionaries got the man moving again as soon as his mind was wiped. As they passed them, they could hear the man giggling and saying ‘Merry Christmas’. 

When they finally arrived at their campsite, they saw a family getting fined and yelled at—their child was hovering on a child broom in front of their tent.

“What is wrong with all of you? There are muggles about!” the man huffed, before handing the wife a citation and stalking off.

Her husband took it from her hands and blanched. 

“Bloody hell! Fifty galleons for multiple secrecy violations!” 

“Sirius?” Harry asked very nicely. “What the fuck is going on? We’re at the goddamn muggle camp site! I thought a new place was acquired, and being warded up for a good distance all around so we could enjoy the world cup in peace!”

“It was supposed to be. So far as any of us knew in the Wizengamot, a new spot had been chosen and warded!” Adeline muttered. 

“Most of the people here have been arriving over the last week, and there’s still a week more before the game. The Ministry is openly parading muggles through the area and turning their brains to jelly, and harassing everyone all the while and levying heavy fines against them. Someone is obviously lining their pockets at the public’s expense…and they’re putting the pressure on. There’ll be a riot for certain. After the game, probably, during the after parties, when everyone’s been drinking for a bit…all the frustration is going to come bubbling to the surface.” Sirius muttered.

“If this is an attempt by the Ministry to clamp down and reassert their authority in the wake of rumors of a world where they’ll be obsolete, I must say they’ve chosen the exact wrong way to go about it.” Tom muttered.

“The stadium was being built over the last year, Tom. This was in the works long before any rumors of another world, but you’re right—this will only serve to make your message more effective and welcome. I would still make sure you have all your people accounted for after the game though. Those poor muggles…”

Tom reflexively sneered, but Harry elbowed him and frowned his displeasure.

“They own a camping ground. They were just out here, minding their own business and trying to make a living, but wizards decided to use them as tools in some kind of sick power play, rather than doing their jobs and setting up the wizard-only arena like they were supposed to. What if they have children? They might very well be permanently impaired if they’re being obliviated every few minutes for two weeks! As if that isn’t bad enough, who is everyone going to take their frustrations out on? The Ministry that’s responsible for this whole mess, or the muggles who’ve already had their brains fried for trying to make a living? You know just as well as I do it’s the muggles who are going to suffer.” 

Tom rubbed his face, took a deep breath and let it out. 

“You’re right, of course. I don’t like muggles, I never have, but you’re right. Sadly, all this nonsense works in our favor—and who knows? Hope of an eventual escape might very well quell everyone’s frustration enough that this twisted little scheme won’t work as planned.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms and just looked at him. Tom frowned and huffed a bit.

“I’ll make sure my people are accounted for. Happy?” 

“Yes, thank you. Muggles encroaching on us from all sides is definitely a problem…but think about it for a moment. The real problem is wizards pulling stupid shite like this. I have no doubt in my mind the muggles are putting bloody cameras on everything because they know on some level that there’s something out there that’s been doing stuff to them. I really believe the problems we’ve had would never have come to the point they’re at if not for stupid arseholes like whoever set this whole thing up. Put the blame on the right people.” 

“The arseholes?” Tom asked with a small grin.

“Too right.” 

“Crisis averted?” Sirius asked dryly. “Goody. Let’s get camp set up.” 

 

Once camp was set up, they all went their separate ways.

Sirius and Adeline, who were both angry at how the plan for the world cup had been undermined and turned into a scheme to line someone’s pockets, by the look of it, went in search of answers. The fact that it was done using some innocent muggles in such a way just made it burn all the more.

Tom went off in search of his associates to begin another round of meetings towards getting the great wizard migration underway. 

Harry made a couple of shadow clones who disguised themselves as extremely old Japanese wizards, and sent them out into the crowds to listen around and see if he could learn anything of interest, while he himself played schoolboy tourist and went in search of any friends of his that had arrived. 

He found Luna after a bit of searching—she and her father had been here since the beginning. Their tent looked rather like a psychedelic mushroom—which seemed oddly fitting for the two of them, really. Luna was in the middle of making one of the stews that passed for food in their household when he found her.

“Hello, Ralph. Long time no see.”

It had become something of a running joke between them since the first time they’d hung out together and he’d told her to call him ‘Bob’ if Harry was too difficult. Since then, most times they saw each other, Luna called him by a different name each time. It drove Hermione crazy; she seemed convinced Luna was brain damaged and couldn’t remember things correctly. Harry just rolled with it and did it right back.

“Alice, how are you doing?”

“I’m very good, thank you for asking." 

Luna finished throwing together her stew, and lowered the fire beneath the cauldron so everything would cook slowly, and the two of them set off in search of the Irish encampment. 

They spent awhile just wandering around, saying hello to any classmates they saw, giggling at some of the more fantastical tents, and browsing through the different souvenir stands that had sprung up everywhere. 

"You know, I don’t feel like an Alice anymore.” Luna mused after they’d been wandering the crowd for a while.

“I never did feel particularly like a Ralph. How about Lucy?”

“Lucy. Yes, I shall be Lucy. You will be Ricky. Together, we will have many wacky adventures.”  
Luna nodded.

“Just in time, there’s the Irish encampment. Looks like Seamus was right—this place is definitely party central.”

“Oooh, they have green beer. I’ve never had green beer before.” Luna clapped her hands excitedly.

“Well then, my dear Lucy, let’s get ourselves knackered on green beer and dance the night away.”

“That, my dear Ricky, sounds like a plan.” 

 

 

“Wakey wakey sleeping beauty. Time to get your ass in gear.” Sirius called as he patted Harry’s cheeks to wake him. After a minute or two Harry groaned miserably.

“Urgh…did anyone see the lorry?”

“What lorry would that be, Harry?”

“The one that ran over me. Ow.”

Harry whimpered and rolled over into a small ball when Adeline threw wide the curtains and let in the bright morning sun.

“Light. Bright light. Hurts.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you spent the night drinking!” she said without sympathy.

“Was only a little green beer.”

“Really? Because you had a bottle of Irish Whiskey in your hand when you came stumbling in here. It was mostly empty.” Sirius snorted.

“Oh…that’s right. Seamus gave it to me….was my birthday present.”

His eyes fluttered open and he stared at Sirius and Adeline who were standing above him.

“Um…hi?” he croaked.

“Hello, Harry. Good morning. Tell me…how much do you remember about yesterday?”

“Uh…I went to the Irish encampment with Luna. We drank green beer and danced a bit…I think we were singing at one point…that’s it, really.”

“So you don’t remember leading a rebellion?” Sirius asked pointedly.

“Um…”

“Or your sudden desire to become a political artist?” Adeline added, crossing her arms.

“What…?”

He looked between the two of them. Adeline looked angry and Sirius was trying to look stern and parental, but he could see they were both struggling…so whatever it was he’d done the night before couldn’t be too serious, right?

“I honestly have no idea what either of you are talking about.”

“Well, rise and shine. You’ll get to see the results first hand. You need to take down the wards.”

“Wards? What wards.” 

Sirius hauled him out of bed and steered him out of the tent—passed a number of passed out Irishmen in war paint who seemed to have crashed in the living room—then outside and down the road to where a large, jeering crowd had gathered. 

“Coming through…coming through…” Sirius called out cheerfully, as he shoved Harry through the crowd. 

Harry, for his part tried very hard not to be sick. His head felt ready to pound itself right off his neck, and his poor stomach was doing somersaults. 

When they passed the last of the crowd, he realized everyone was gathered around a clear spot in the center of the encampment—held back by wards that had been erected around the site.  
There were four naked men contained within, all of them in very compromising positions. Two of the men were on their hands and knees, and the remaining two were positioned behind them. 

The two men in the dominant positions had the words ‘THE MINISTRY” painted on their backs, chests and going down their outer thighs. The two men in the submissive position had different words. One said “THE WIZARDING PUBLIC”, the other said ‘THE MUGGLE CAMP OWNERS.” 

“Those are the Ministry prats that were parading the muggles around, aren’t they?”

“Yup.” Sirius replied with manic cheer.

“I’m guessing this is the political art you mentioned. You said something about a rebellion?”

“I’ve gotta hand it to you kid. Things were rather exciting around here last night. Seven hundred drunken Irishmen, Scots and Welshmen who got gathered up along the way, wearing war paint and dancing around a giant bonfire made of citations that have been handed out since everyone has been here. Oh, and can’t forget “the Ministry prats”, as you so rightly named them, being held on trial. I think they all about wet themselves when they got hauled off to answer to all of you—for crimes against muggles, crimes against the wizarding world, and gross dereliction of duty, as of course the Ministry is supposed to enforce secrecy, not encourage it being broken by parading muggles around. It was rather glorious, really. The speeches were inspiring…”

“Speeches?” 

“…or I assume they were, as everyone was so drunk, no one was really speaking all that clearly. You all seemed to think they were inspiring, considering the amount of cheering and dancing going on. Also, I believe you were declared ‘king of the summer’ last night…though again, I’m not quite certain, as the man who was trying to tell me so passed out while he was explaining it.”

“I see…um…where’s Luna?”

“She’s back at her campsite. Her father found her dancing around the bonfire. He joined in for a while and then took her back with him. She’s probably still sleeping it off. She apparently made stew earlier that burned away because she decided to be a revolutionary. Last I saw her she was crying on her father’s shoulder about it as he tried convincing her she really wanted to go to bed.”

“Ah. Um…the muggles?”

“Filled to the brim with draught of living death. Luckily Snape happened by…and, wow, who would ever think I’d say such a thing? He saw what you were all about to do and took over to make sure they didn’t get overdosed. I believe they and their children are currently warded up in their house so that no one messes with them.”

“Oh…well, that’s good, right?” Harry muttered weakly. “Uh…how much trouble am I in?”

“Amazingly enough, none. There was a lot of fishy business going on with this whole set up. You and your revolutionaries rounded up all the Ministry prats in the area and saved us the trouble of having to do so. Most of them have already been questioned by Aurors. All that’s left is these guys, but no one’s been able to pull down the wards. All witnesses who were coherent enough to see what was going on agreed you put the ward up, so apparently you’re going to have to pull it down.”

“I don’t remember any of this…” 

Which wasn’t completely true, though it was actually mostly true; Sirius’ rundown of the night before had conjured several disjointed images that might have been memories, but that was it.   
Nevertheless, he pulled his wand and tried to scan the ward line. 

“Oh. Heh, heh.” Harry chuckled with some embarrassment, before hissing _“I’m done.”_

He’d apparently just put the things up, with the intention of no one getting close to the men till he figured he was done with their punishment. It was the men’s good luck that he actually had remembered to put in a way to turn the ward off, considering the condition he’d apparently been in. 

Several aurors waded in when the ward went down and started casting finites to undo the sticking charms holding the men in their awkward position, threw the four of them some blankets and led them off to be questioned. 

 

A cup of hot chocolate appeared before Harry’s face.

"Tom? Since when do you bring me hot drinks in the morning? I'm not complaining, but I'm honestly not sure I can keep anything down right now." 

“It’s Severus’ special ‘dunderhead brew’. I believe he’s feeding it to Draco as we speak.”

“Draco’s here?”

“Yes, in fact, as near as we’ve been able to reconstruct, he showed up at the Irish encampment right around the time everyone was donning their warpaint and just jumped right in. Apparently, everyone admired his revolutionary spirit, so he was given a bottle of scotch, and then was later seen making an incoherent speech about freedom in a borrowed kilt—and nothing else. We’re still not sure what happened to all the rest of his clothes.”

“He was standing up on a tree stump, in an unfortunately windy area. I think everyone here got a much better look at the Malfoy jewels than anyone really wanted.” Sirius snickered.

“So, what happens now?”

“We enjoy the remaining days till the world cup in a muggle-free zone. All the obliviators have been sent home. A few aurors will be on patrol in the area to break up fights and the like, and there will be a large group trial for the bastards who were behind this whole little money making scheme.”

“Did they really think no one would notice?”

“They figured the Wizengamot folks were mostly so old they wouldn’t be here, and that the public was too cowed and sheeplike to protest what they were doing. The really didn’t expect anyone to speak up on the muggles’ behalf. Obliviating muggles is such an accepted practice, they figured no one would even bat an eye, let alone question what kind of damage was being done to them.” 

All across the camp, owls were fluttering in with the Daily Prophet. One landed on Adeline, one on Harry. 

“Uh, anyone have a few spare knuts? I seem to only be wearing pajama pants with no pockets.” 

Sirius snorted and counted out a few more coins to stick in the little pouch on the owl’s leg. It hooted gratefully and flew away.  
Harry unrolled the paper and froze.

“Well, well, look at that. You’ve made the front page.” Tom snickered. 

In bold letters across the top of the paper were the words 

“REVOLUTION AT THE WORLD CUP!”

Below that was a large photograph, showing Harry in the center, painted up like a pagan warrior of another era, sporting deer antlers with a full moon suspended between them, a necklace that seemed to be made of teeth, seeds and acorns. He was wearing only a pair of light trousers, and was bare-chested, though he was also wearing a light cloak that hung open at the front that seemed to be made of leaves and flowers and was covered in war paint. All around him, drunken men similarly kitted out were brandishing bottles of booze and yelling. A large bonfire could be seen burning in the background, surrounded by dancers staggering around it and howling to the moon.   
There was a wild and savage looking woman hanging off his one shoulder who after a moment, he realized was Luna. She had flowers twined through her hair, and was wearing a dress of leaves and flowers, and her exposed skin was covered with swirls of paint. 

“I think it’s really lucky we uncovered a scheme and made all those arrests before this thing came out, or it wouldn’t have been nearly so complimentary, I’m thinking.” Adeline remarked. “As it is, they’re hinting that you’re crazy and bloodthirsty, and that we’ve raised you up to be a juvenile delinquent and an alcoholic.”

“At least it’s a good picture?”

Adeline snorted, rolled up her paper and whacked him on the head with it.

“If nothing else, at least we can say life with you is never boring.”


	4. Back to Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students return to school and get weighed down with work, Neville, Harry and Luna decide to build a boat and go sailing.

The rest of the summer flew by, almost too quickly. The Longbottoms stayed gone until the absolute last minute before Neville needed to return to school—in fact, Harry wasn’t sure he’d returned at all until he ran into him on the train.

“Nev! There you are! Wow, look at you.”

Neville had sprouted an inch or two since he’d last seen him, and he was sporting a dark, golden tan. His dark hair was bleached gold and brown by the sun, and he looked fit and healthy—not to mention at peace with himself and the world.

“So…your parents?”

“Are slowly getting there. They look good, and their proper ages—not all grey and wasted like they’d been. Dad is actually pretty coherent, though naturally the last decade left its toll. Mum…mum still has good days and bad days, but the good days are getting better. We think with time, and maybe some intervention, she’ll be able to make a pretty good recovery too. I can’t thank you enough, Harry. You don’t know what it means, just having them look at me and knowing that it’s me…”

Harry remembered vividly, the day Neville had found the mirror of Erised, and how they’d had to drag him off, screaming and crying.

“I think I do know, Nev. You’re welcome.” 

"So, how was your summer?"

"Busy. I was stockpiling supplies for the move, practicing the animagus transformation with Sirius"

"Animagus? You're doing that?"

"Yeah. I worked on it a bit during the year I was gone, but didn't get very far--of course, I was busy with other things, like training the others and fighting a war, so that's not too surprising. Working with Sirius this summer helped. I've actually managed to transform partway. Tom, damn him, can already make the complete transformation. He managed it before the summer was out. I've still got a ways to go."

"Wow. So what are you?"

"Tell you what--I'll show you when I complete the transformation. I think it kind of has to be seen to be really appreciated."

"Alright, deal. So, when are you going to be done?"

"I'm hoping I'll manage a complete transformation by the end of the year--though it'll be sooner with any luck." 

Harry's phone rang.

"Hello? Yes, this is the right place. You had a concern? Uh huh. Uh huh. Do you have house elves? Good. Tell them to visit Itsy. She can show them what she's been doing to help me preserve the food I've stockpiled, and then you can just leave them to it. Uh huh, uh huh. I'll make a note of your concerns to be presented at the next big meeting. Alright. Goodbye." 

Neville raised an eyebrow at Harry, and watched as he dug out a parchment and make a notation beside some of the writing.

"What was that all about?"

"I'm the liason hotline for concerns about food. The move, you know? Everyone kept arguing, so we designated people with phones to be the contact for concerns about different things. People call us, we make a note. I pass the lists on to Tom and they get gone through and addressed at meetings. It's been pretty easy. Everyone seems to have similar concerns, so it's gotten to the point where I just make a tick mark beside something on my list. So far ten people have called with worries about long-term storage of food, like that last guy I just talked to did. They're all people with house elves that don't know how to do much practical magic for housekeeping because the elves do it all. I just have them send their house elves to mine and tell them to let them take care of it. It just works out best for all involved that way."

"Sounds annoying."

"It is a little, but it will mean a smoother transition all around in the end, so it's worth it." 

They broke off their conversation when the door of the compartment swung open, showing Ron framed in the doorway, with Hermione and Ginny right behind him.

"There you are! We've been looking everywhere!" Ron complained before heading inside, lugging his trunk behind him. 

"Say, where's Luna anyway?" Neville wondered.

"She's hanging out with some of the folks from the printing and photography clubs. We'll probably see her around once they're done." 

"Meeting? What meeting? Why didn't I hear about any meeting?" Hermione demanded.

"It's not a general club meeting. Relax. They're just discussing souvenirs for the tournament."

"Tournament? What tournament?" Ron wondered.

"The tournament taking place at Hogwarts this year. Your dad works at the Ministry. I'm sure he's heard about it."

"He did say something to mum about stuff going on at Hogwarts, but he wouldn't tell us what." Ginny grumbled.

"Does it have anything to do with why we needed dress robes this year?" Hermione wondered.

"Yeah. We're going to have visitors from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons this year staying with us at Hogwarts--a dozen students from each school plus their headmaster and headmistress. They're going to revive the Tri-wizard Tournament. A champion will be chose to represent each school and compete in three tasks over the course of the school year. Part of the events for the tournament is a Yule ball. When the tournament was originally held it was not only a way to show off the capabilities of the students, it was also meant to allow mingling to widen the gene pool and as a way to form international ties." 

"There's going to be a ball! I wasn't told to bring dress robes!" Ginny huffed.

"Fourth years and up, sorry."

"That's not fair!" 

"I didn't make the rules. Don't complain to me." 

"It should be very interesting to see what the students of the other schools are like. I've read all about them. Beauxbatons is in France, and the school is known as the 'palace' of Beauxbatons. It's supposed to be quite a showplace. They're known for accepting people with creature blood, and their curriculum focuses on light and neutral magic, and they specialize in training up politicians and diplomats--a lot of focus on politics, etiquette and the like. Durmstrang is unplottable and only the students and staff know where it is. They teach dark magic, and only accept purebloods. They're very security conscious, so it's hard finding out many details about the place."

"According to what Lucius told Draco about it, they focus on turning out practical wizards who can in theory be dropped naked in a wilderness with only their wand, and not only survive, but thrive." 

"Figures he'd know all about a place like that." Ron snorted.

"He knows the headmaster. He wanted to send Draco there, but his mum didn't want him to be so far away." 

"Hmph." 

"Well, it sounds like it should be a pretty interesting year this year." 

 

It was pouring in Hogsmeade when the train arrived. Harry spared a moment of pity for the first years who'd be forced to travel across the lake in all the rain, while he and the others dashed for the nearest carriage to take them up to the castle. 

A wide smile crossed Harry's face as he stepped foot in the castle. Hogwarts was the first place he'd ever thought of as home, the first place he'd ever felt wanted and accepted. Hogwarts would always have a special place in his heart because of it.

"Who are they?" Ginny wondered as they all headed for the Gryffindor table.

There were several new faces up at the staff table. There was a walrus-looking man seated near Snape--he looked oddly like an older, happier uncle Vernon. Other than him, there was a younger woman seated next to McGonagall's empty seat, a younger man with Flitwick, and another younger woman with Sprout. There was also a man Harry had never actually met, but whom he recognized by description. He was an older man, who seemed more scar than not. He was missing part of his nose, and had a vividly blue eye that kept spinning around in every direction. His name was Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody. He was a famous auror, who had brought in most of the crazy death eaters that now filled Azkaban prison. In a time when many aurors had been flinging around unforgivables like they were going out of style, making it difficult to know who was supposed to be the good guys and who the bad, Moody had brought in his prisoners alive to face justice in the courts, though he'd lost an eye, a leg and part of his nose in doing so.

In another world, that could easily have been Harry's life had things gone just a bit differently, Moody's kidnapping and impersonation was the linchpin in a convoluted plan by Voldemort to make Harry available to be used in a resurrection ritual to fix himself. 

Feeling undeniably paranoid, Harry dug out the map he'd made years prior that showed Hogwarts and everyone in it, and did a quick scan of the dots depicting the folks at the staff table. He was beyond relieved to see that Moody was who he was supposed to be and not a crazed imposter.   
He heaved out a breath in relief and tucked the map away.

"Isn't anyone going to answer me?"

"I know that one guy is Alastor Moody. He's a famous retired auror. I don't know who the rest of them are." Ron shrugged.

They quieted down as McGonagall headed out and then returned a short while later with a double line of bedraggled first years behind her. They were tiny, looked like drowned rats, and there were a lot of them. 

One was a little red-headed girl, another was a boy who looked rather a lot like Colin Creevey. He was so wet he was dripping on the floor, though he looked remarkably cheerful about it. He waved surreptitiously to Colin and mouthed "I fell in the lake" with a big grin on his face. 

"Bloody hell, look at em all."

"Is the red-haired girl one of you guys?" Parvati wondered.

"Never saw her before. Ginny's the youngest, there aren't any more of us at home…well, for the moment at least." Ron concluded glumly. 

"I'm guessing all the second years, and now these guys are the result of a post-war baby boom or something. Last year's firsties, there was, what, about sixty of them, compared to our forty."

"There's eighty-nine of them." Hermione announced after doing a quick head count.

"Bloody hell. We'll be here all night! I'm hungry now!"

"What did you mean for the moment at least? Is your mum pregnant?" Lavender asked.

"I'm guessing the new folks at the staff table might just be new teachers. If the numbers of incoming students are going to keep increasing like this, compared to the relatively small classes from the war years, it might just be necessary."

"It could be. They do have the right numbers there to cover all the core classes other than astronomy, and they could well have someone for that as well--professor Sinistra rarely comes to the feasts." 

"They don't seem to have an extra history teacher either." 

"Bastards." 

"Ron? Ginny? You never answered."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Mum's pregnant again." Ron agreed.

"Really? There's a lot of that going around. Adeline is pregnant too. So's Draco's mum, and Millie's and Vince and Greg's, and Daphne's. Dora's pregnant too. Her bosses aren't too happy with her. She just finished auror school and now she won't be able to really be on active duty for very long."

"Bloody hell. We'll be drowning in sprogs!"

 

The sorting did take an uncommonly long time. Ron wasn't the only one with a grumbling stomach by the time they got down to the last of them. The little girl with the red hair that he'd spotted earlier was indeed not a Weasley--she was a Prewitt named Mafalda, something which had the Weasleys gaping in shock, and then dismay when the girl was sorted into Slytherin.   
Harry wasn't sure, but he thought the great hall had expanded in size, as had the four house tables, to accommodate the influx of so many new students.   
Dumbledore stood and twinkled at everyone.

"Before we begin tonight's feast, I have a few announcements to make."

The students weren't the only ones glaring at him to hurry it up. He just smiled brightly as though he didn't notice.

"I'm sure you've all noticed the new faces tonight at the staff table. I am pleased to introduce all of you to our new teachers. Up first, we have Horace Slughorn. Professor Slughorn is actually returning from retirement after a long and successful career here at Hogwarts as both the resident potions master and Slytherin Head of House. Professor Slughorn will be returning to his former post as potions professor, for the first through fourth year students, while our esteemed professor Snape will cover the NEWT students…"

By the time he finished introducing the last of the new teachers, the students were faint with hunger, and nearly pounced on the food when it finally appeared. 

"At least we get away from Snape for a year." Ron mused philosophically.

"Ron! Chew and swallow first!" Hermione huffed.

"It's kind of weird that Snape is the only teacher we're losing for the year. I'd have thought all the teachers would have opted for the NEWT students, not just Snape." Neville noted.

"Maybe they're more comfortable with the pre-OWL curriculum." Dean shrugged.

"Or they don't trust handing off their pre-OWL students to someone else, and figured they'd best make sure everyone gets a decent foundation at least." Was Hermione’s take on things.

"Prolly. Ah well, I'm fine with keeping the rest. So long as I get away from Snape for a year. I hope that Slughorn fellow is less of a git than his-greasy-batness is."

"Ron! Show some respect! He's one of your professors." 

"So? Doesn't mean he's not a git." 

As the food began to disappear, when everyone was full and sleepy and wanted nothing more than to head to their dorms and to bed, Dumbledore stood again.

"I realize the hour grows late, and everyone would like to get some sleep, but I have a few last announcements before we take our leave of one another. First of all, I regret to inform you all that the quidditch cup is cancelled this year."

Even sleepy as they were, such an announcement was enough to induce instant pandemonium among the students. Wizards did love their quidditch.

 

"The reason for this is because Hogwarts will be hosting a prestigious tournament this year, one that hasn't been held in hundreds of years: The Tri-wizard Tournament."

Dumbledore waited a moment to continue. "In a few weeks' time, we will be receiving delegations from the Durmstrang Institute as well as the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. They and Hogwarts will each pick a champion to represent their schools to compete in three tasks. I will warn you now, the tasks will be such that the chosen witches and wizards will be tested to their utmost, for the winner of the Tri-wizard Tournament will win not only eternal fame and glory, but also a one thousand galleon prize for successfully completing the tasks set before them."

Naturally, more pandemonium erupted as the students imaginations caught fire, and many imagined themselves nobly battling amorphous terrors only to emerge triumphant.

"Bloody hell. A thousand galleons! Can you imagine what you could do with that kind of money? Eternal fame and glory ain't nothing to sneeze at either." Ron said eagerly.

"Yeah, that'd be pretty sweet, wouldn't it?" Seamus agreed.

Dumbledore let the excited chatter continue for a bit before holding up his hands for silence.  
"The tournament will be restricted to those who are seventeen years of age and older. Those of you who are of age by the opening of the tournament are welcome to compete. You have several weeks yet to decide if the Tri-wizard Tournament is for you."

Dean and Seamus groaned in disappointment, Neville sighed in relief, while Ron and the twins all howled in protest.

"That's not fair!"

"We'll be of age just a few months too late."

"It's close enough though. We should enter anyway."

"I'm glad, actually. Now there's no way Gran can realistically expect me to compete. I'd have had to otherwise." Neville confided. 

"It really is too bad. A thousand galleons is nothing to sneeze at." Seamus griped.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can find a way around whatever restrictions they put up." Fred and George plotted.

"Now, as I'm sure we'll all agree, the hour is late and we're all for bed. Goodnight." 

Ginny was in a bad mood as well as they all headed up to Gryffindor house.

"Can't go to the ball, can't compete in the tournament, and no quidditch either! This year already sucks! How am I supposed to be recruited for the Harpies if I never get to bloody well play!" 

"Gin, you're a third year. Nobody'd be recruiting you now anyway."

"Shut up Ron."

"Oh, that's very nice." 

 

Classes started bright and early the next morning. Each and every one of the professors had stressed the importance of the upcoming OWLs and had dove right in to both reviewing the previous year and piling on new stuff. 

"This sucks. We've got so much homework, we'll be lucky if we actually get our puppet show ready by Halloween." Hannah grumbled. 

She was president of the Puppeteer Brigade, and she'd been finding it difficult to actually squeeze in time for a decent meeting to get things rolling on that year's presentation. 

"What's it going to be this year?" Harry asked curiously.

"We're actually doing an original production. The History of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. We have some of the folks in the historical society combing the library for stuff about it. I'm going to have to find time to organize a script based on what they find, and then we still have to design and make all the puppets and set pieces and have a couple of rehearsals before the other schools get here. If every week is like this week that's going to be hard to manage. Eight weeks might seem like a long time, but it goes fast." Hannah replied.

"I'm sure you'll manage it. The first week back is always the worst." Susan told her confidently. 

"Once we get used to the schedule again, things should ease up somewhat." Neville reassured her.

"Gosh, I hope so." 

"Done." Harry crowed with relief. 

"How are you done already?" Susan spluttered.

"Three words--History of Magic. Binns puts me to sleep, just like he does everyone. So, Neville and I have been doing homework in his class since first year. We just check in long enough to see what he's talking about, and we read the chapters in the book once we're done with it. Between that, and interrogation we've been doing fine in the class, and we get most of our homework out of the way during the day, often the same day it's assigned. We never had so much work before. If I hadn't of gotten a lot of it out of the way already, I'd have been stuck inside all weekend trying to finish."

"History of Magic, huh? I might have to try that. It might be just the break I need to get things back on track with the puppet show." Hannah said in interest.

"Done." Neville echoed, before stretching and cracking his back. 

Hannah and Susan both glanced at the pile of assignments they still had to complete, sighed, and bent back over their parchments.

Neville looked around and saw most of their classmates were doing much the same. Hermione was completely hidden by the towers of books all around her. 

He caught Harry's eyes, and the two of them began packing up their stuff and left the room, heading in to the Melting Pot proper.

"Adding a classroom full of desks for a study hall was a good idea, but damn if it isn't kind of depressing sitting in there doing homework when you know the fun parts of the Melting Pot are right on the other side of the hall. The Melting Pot is getting to be pretty complicated isn't it?"

"The Melting Pot itself isn't any different."

"You know what I mean. By the time we're seventh years, we'll probably have taken over the whole corridor."

"What makes you say that?" Harry wondered. 

"Well, as it stands, the one whole side of the corridor is the Melting Pot and the clubs and what have you. Now, we have two classroom study halls. Next year we'll be the fifth years, so we'll have to add one for next year's fourth years, but the sixth years will need one too, ditto for the year after. There are four classrooms across the hall, and we'll probably end up taking over all of them."

"Maybe not. When the current fifth years become seventh years, the common rooms will be empty if everyone is down here. They'll probably just take over that, ditto for the rest of us when we get to that point. We'll probably be so busy getting ready for NEWTs we won't have much time for all the stuff we're doing now. It'll probably all have to be turned over to the underclassmen at some point." 

"Huh. Yeah, I guess. It's kind of weird to think we might just end up obsolete in the Melting Pot when we started it all." 

"That's life, my friend. Besides, we'll have the corporation. It'll be our Melting Pot for the adult world."   
"Yeah, that's right, isn't it? No more puppet shows or anything though."

"Nothing saying we can't have company clubs and activities. We'll need to concentrate on making regular profits before we start anything like that, but it's something to shoot for." 

They wandered a bit through the Melting Pot, but with all their classmates and the fifth years in the study hall, it was all younger kids playing games and making a lot of noise. 

"Want to head outside? We might as well take advantage while it's still relatively nice. The winter will be here before you know it."

 

They ambled down towards the lake, where they could see others had had the same idea. Older students were sprawled across the lawn, under trees in small groups, wandering by the lake, or cozied up in couples in the out of the way corners.   
They both took a deep breath when they reached the water, and felt their shoulders unknot.

“Free at last, huh? Man, with the way they’re already piling work on, we’re going to be half-dead by the time the OWLs get here.”

“I know, it's only the first week and my poor hands are already developing permanent cramps from writing so much!”

Harry nodded his agreement, and stared out over the lake, for the first time really taking in just how huge it was, nestled there between easily half a dozen mountains, including the one Hogwarts itself was on.

“I want to build a boat, and go sailing.” 

Neville looked at him askance, but he was busy remembering the thrill he’d gotten sailing with Sokka and Aang in the other world, dodging icebergs. There were no such obstacles here, but the water did get a bit choppy and cold in the winter, and chunks of ice did start to form on its surface. He could already imagine it—the creaking deck beneath his feet, the humming twang of the sails and ropes, the cold spray in his face. The lake was huge—even a good-sized boat would have ample room to maneuver. 

“Um, Harry?”

“They won’t let anyone take the little boats out—and truthfully, for most folks past first year, they really would be kind of small to feel safe in. What if we built our own though? If nothing else, think of it as good practice for the OWLs—and good practice for doing something useful and worthwhile with our magic…plus, when it’s finished we can all go for a sail around the lake. We could even charge for rides, and recoup any expenses we had in making the thing. Sounds cool, right?” 

“We were just complaining about how they’re already weighing us down with work, remember?”

“Well, yeah…it would probably take a while, fitting in moments where we could. It probably wouldn’t be properly ready till spring, even with using magic. But then, come spring…can’t you picture it, Neville? A…Viking longboat”

“Why a longboat?”

“I think they’re cool, now don’t interrupt”

“Sorry”

“S’alright. A Viking longboat, with a giant square sail, and us, racing across the lake, with the wind in our hair and the spray in our faces, free as fish in the sea, and going wherever the wind takes us. It’ll be glorious, don’t you think?”

“What about the squid, though?”

“He’s friendly, and he won’t attack if we’re coming from the Hogwarts end. If we just explain that it’s us and we’ll be sailing around a bit, he shouldn’t attack us even when we swing around to come back across.” 

Harry could see the light of adventure kindling in his eyes, and knew he had him.

“There’s still a bit of time before dinner starts. They might have stuff on shipbuilding in the library.”

“They seem to have stuff on most everything else.” 

 

“We should tell Luna, she’ll want to help.”  
“Not to mention she’s a dab hand with a wand, and usually knows all sorts of obscure things. Heck, she might already know how to build a Viking longboat—I wouldn’t put it past her.”

 

"Where were you two yesterday?" Hermione demanded as soon as they sat down for breakfast.

"Why?"

"Because none of us saw you at the Melting Pot all night."

"We were outside and then we were in the library for a while."

"Why?"  
"Project."

"What kind of project?"

"Nothing you'd likely be interested in. What do we have today anyway?"

"Potions, for one." Ron sighed.

"Slughorn's a lot less grumpy than Snape. Why are you complaining?"

"Not complaining, really. It's still not my favorite class. I'll say this much--Snape might be a grumpy, greasy git, but at least he noticed I was in the bloody class. I swear Slughorn just looks right through me like I'm not even there. It's kind of depressing."

"You're trying too hard to get his attention."

"Well of course I'm trying to get his attention. You said he makes people famous."

"No, he picks people he thinks will someday be famous or important, which is completely different. He then helps the people he's chosen make contacts and whatnot." 

"I'm glad it's nearly the weekend, though I'm probably going to be stuck doing homework all through it. Are the teachers trying to kill us?" Dean grumbled nearby.

"Personally, yeah I think so." Seamus agreed.

"So what you're saying is Slughorn only pays attention to people who are already famous or important? How is that fair? I need contacts more than some jerk who's already famous!" 

"Ron, would you give it a rest? According to Sirius he doesn't usually pull people for his Slug Club until sixth year usually. If you go following him around like an eager puppy trying to get him to notice you, by sixth year he'll likely be so annoyed you'll have no chance of getting in."

"The bell's about to ring. We have history of magic first up." Hermione announced.

"Good. I've got part of that essay for McGonagall to finish." Ron said cheerfully.

"Ronald Weasley! You should be paying attention to what Professor Binns is telling us! This is our OWL year. You can't afford to be slacking off and not paying attention!"

Harry and Neville hurriedly finished their breakfast and hustled out of the great hall, not wanting to listen to any more of Hermione nagging Ron. 

They settled themselves in the back of the classroom and broke out the books they'd borrowed from the library the night before. While others were napping, or trying to stay awake long enough to take notes, they were busy taking notes on shipbuilding and charms that would act as a propulsion system. 

"I'm kind of disappointed we won't be making a longboat." Harry admitted in a quiet whisper. "I was sort of looking forward to sailing it around the lake."

"Yeah, me too. It was too big a project though. We'd never find enough hours to do it with the way they're weighing us down this year; not to mention even the "small" longboat was way bigger than we need to just go playing around on the lake. The catamaran is a better choice for what we want it for, and it shouldn't take all that long to put together. We should be able to take it out this weekend."

"Yeah, I know. It's still disappointing."

"Is Luna going to help?"

"Yeah. I called her last night before we went to bed. She'll join us after breakfast tomorrow at the dock." 

"Where are we going to find stuff to make it with? Are we going to cut down trees or just transfigure stuff?"

"Neither. I sent Itsy to buy some lumber and other stuff. Don't worry about it."

 

“Um…hi. Need some help?” 

Neville, Luna and Harry all turned to see Ginny Weasley standing on the stairs leading down to the lakeside dock. Neville and Harry went back to what they were doing and left Luna to deal with her.

“Oh, Ginny. Hi. I didn't know you were interested in sailing.”

“Well, I’ve never been sailing before. Could be fun. So…um…what are you doing, exactly? That doesn’t look like any boat I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s a catamaran—double hulled for stability.” Luna explained as she patted one of the giant pontoons they’d made with Harry’s lumber and a bit of magic. “It’s sort of a cross between a boat and a raft, I guess. We’re almost done affixing the platform between the two, and then we’re going to make a basic guardrail and attach a couple of simple benches, and the propulsion system. Luckily, how to do all that to best effect was in the book we got from the library last night. The design of a catamaran is based on geometry, so we just had to do some measurements and then start building, which was very convenient.”

“Yeah, doing this one was a good call. After seeing all the trouble we had getting this just right, I’m almost afraid to know what we’d have ended up with if we’d gone with the longboat. I think when we eventually make that one, we might want to start with some scale models for practice first, before we put in all the work on a full-scale model—especially with all the extras we were thinking of adding.” Neville grunted.

“You’re all planning on making a longboat? Why the sudden urge to be sailors?”  
Ginny asked curiously.

“Why not? Anyway, once we get to the new world, we’re all going to be living scattered across a couple of peninsulas, some islands, and who knows where else—the goblins already called the mountain range across the way…besides, I was on a water tribe ship while I was there, and we went iceberg dodging as part of a coming of age ritual that they do. I’m actually an honorary water tribesman. It was a lot of fun, and I wanted to try it again.” Harry shrugged.

 

They got the propulsion system rigged up, and the catamaran was currently floating in the water, just off the edge of the dock.

“It seems seaworthy. So, what say we take this baby for a spin?” Harry said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

The lunch bell rang up at the castle. The four of them exchanged glances and held a silent debate—go up to lunch and come back out later to try the boat, or miss lunch?

“Gah, I’m an idiot! Itsy!”

“Youse is calling Mister Harry…ooh! Youse boaty is looking very nice!”

“Thanks, we did put a lot of work into it. Say, do you think you could bring us a picnic basket with some of the stuff from lunch? We really want to try the boat, but we don’t want to miss out.”

“Oh yes, I’s can be doing that. You is waiting here.” 

Itsy returned a few minutes later with a giant picnic basket. 

“Thank you, Itsy! You’re the best!” He noticed then that she was still looking over the catamaran with interest.

“Say…Itsy, you want to go sailing with us?”

“Oh…well…Itsy is having work to do…”

“Well, I was thinking…someone other than us should know how to operate this thing, just in case something happens and we need help getting back to shore. Plus, I know once people see this thing, someone is going to try sneaking out to take it for a spin. If they get stuck, someone will need to be able to go out and rescue them, or just bring them back to shore if the teachers are calling. So you see, this would very much be work…important work at that.” 

“Youse is being very right. Itsy is coming. Um…can Itsy be driving the boaty?”

“Sure, let me just show you how the controls work.” Harry agreed with a grin. 

Itsy popped aboard and sat herself in front of the controls, giggling maniacally. The rest climbed on and got themselves settled, then started doling out lunch, while Harry showed Itsy the very simple control mechanism. 

“Turn the wheel that way to go left, that way to go right, this thing here, pull it down to the first spot…”

The catamaran began drifting out of the cave as a slow cruise. 

“There’s two more speeds. Since this is the first time out, warn us if you’re going to turn while at a higher speed, because we don’t know if the boat will tip any, putting the lever back in the first position will cut the propulsion altogether…we’ll have to experiment to see how far we go after it’s cut off, so we can better estimate how to safely get back to the dock. If you push the lever up one from the starting spot, it will go in reverse, but only at the slowest speed.”

“Itsy’s is understanding. Hold on!” 

They had cleared the cave, and were now out on the lake proper. Itsy giggled, put the speed to the highest setting and whooped in delight as they began skimming across the lake.   
Harry, Neville and Luna pulled out the sunglasses they’d made themselves earlier and put them on, and started eating their lunch.   
Ginny snorted, made herself a pair of sunglasses as well, and settled in to enjoy the ride. 

 

Naturally, their absence from lunch was noted—Harry by Hermione, who instantly surmised that he was up to something and needed to be found. She was tired of being left off planning committees because she didn't know something was in the works until it was already mostly done.

Ron noted that Ginny was missing. He knew she had a long-standing thing for Harry, who was also missing. He needed to find them and lay down the law before Harry started getting any ideas about taking liberties. 

Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender also noted Harry and Neville’s absence, and surmised they were probably having wacky adventures without them, which would never do. 

Colin Creevey felt a photo opportunity on the horizon, saw the fourth year Gryffindors heading out and followed them. His little brother, Dennis, followed him. 

Luna’s absence was noted by Cho, who’d had to get used to the odd Ravenclaw while she’d been briefly dating Harry. Once she noticed Luna was gone, she checked for Harry and Neville and found them gone as well. She instantly surmised that they were probably doing something interesting, and went and found her new boyfriend, Cedric, to help her find out what it was. 

Cedric seemed oddly jealous of Harry, and rather embarrassed that he was—he was, after all a sixth year. He was older, taller, good-looking—but he also knew she and Harry had broken up due to outside forces more than any real dissatisfaction with one another. She had tried to tell him that she was quite happy being with him, but there was still that lingering doubt—though he had seemed a bit more secure recently. She really hoped it lasted—dealing with a jealous boyfriend got old pretty fast. It was all very troublesome. 

They Slytherin quintet—Draco, Pansy, Millicent, Vince and Greg, noted all the ruckus and sauntered off once breakfast was over to do their own investigating. 

It was merest chance that Draco happened to look out of a passing window that looked out over the lake, and happened to see the swift moving dot out on it. He instantly surmised that this was where the missing students were. He briefly admired their audacity, and then wished he’d thought of it first. He called the others’ attention and led them outside.

The others, who had been about to spread out over the castle, saw the Slytherins hurrying outside, and realized they knew something. The whole group turned and chased after them. 

They Slytherins were making their way to the stairway that wound down into the mountain, and ended in a cavern dock—a place they all remembered from their very first night at Hogwarts. They milled around outside the entrance for a bit, making faces, which allowed the rest of them a chance to catch up. 

The others saw what had held the Slytherins up—the stairs were damp and rather slimy, and would be a hazard to both safety and cleanliness—each of which was held in high regard by Slytherins everywhere. 

Hermione, seeing a chance to show off, scoured the stairs of slime and then dried them with a couple of flicks of her wand. 

The Slytherins, being Slytherins, smiled sweetly, and told her she had a brilliant career ahead of her as a servant. Their braying laughter could be heard echoing as they all disappeared down the stairs. 

By now, the others had spotted what brought the Slytherins down here—out on the lake, approaching the very dock they were headed for, was a strange boat, containing Harry, Neville, Luna and Ginny…as well as a house elf, who seemed to be driving and cackling in equal measure.   
The rest of them were quick to head down the stairs as well. 

Naturally, all the sudden agitation among the students didn’t go unnoticed. As the last of the students was disappearing down the stairwell, Professors McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick were making their way across the grounds to follow them. 

 

“Messrs. Potter and Longbottom! Miss Lovegood, Miss Weasley! What is the meaning of this!”

“Could you rephrase the question?”

“Where did this contraption come from and what did you think you were doing?”

“We built it this morning, and we went for a sail on the lake.” 

“Twenty points from Gryffindor.” Snape added cheerfully.

“For what, Professor? I’ll have you know we checked both the prefect’s handbook and the school charter, and making a boat and sailing it isn’t against any of the school rules.”

“Mr. Potter! You cannot simply go around making things like this and using them!”

“I would beg to differ, considering that we did just that.”

“And if your transfigurations were to fail while you were all out on the lake? What then, you foolish, arrogant boy?”

“Why would our transfigurations fail, professor?” Luna asked curiously. “The wood is all convinced it was always this shape. It would actually take some effort to convince it otherwise. We made sure of that before we took it out.”

“Yeah, and anyway, we had a rescue elf with us, just in case anything did go wrong.”

Itsy saluted, still grinning. She had really enjoyed driving the boat.

“Rescue elf? What on….for the love of Merlin Potter! Can you even swim, elf?”

“No, Itsy is not knowing how to swim. Itsy can be teleporting.”

“If you cannot swim, how were you intending to rescue these foolish children in case of an accident?” 

Itsy looked offended and drew herself up proudly, before snapping her fingers. The four kids disappeared from the boat and appeared on the dock. She snapped her fingers a second time, and they reappeared on the boat. 

“That is being how. Now, if youse all is excusing Itsy, Itsy needs to be getting back to work!” 

Itsy disappeared with a muted pop, but the professors rallied quickly.

“Did you even consider the giant squid, you idiots? He’s intended to attack anyone who tries crossing the lake!”

“We explained to him when we passed him and gave him some toast. It’s fine.” 

“You cannot just…Filius!” McGonagall huffed. 

The tiny professor was inspecting the boat and chortling over the propulsion system with Luna, and not paying the two of them any mind.   
“Yes, very well done! Ten points to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw for your use of charms!”

“Still leaves us ten points down.” Ginny muttered, while glowering at Snape unhappily.

“Say, professor, would you like to go for a ride?” Luna asked curiously.

“Oh, my goodness yes. I should like to see how your charm work translates into action.”

“Filius!”

“I know, isn’t it marvelous! Top notch work! It’s really so delightful seeing our students take one’s teachings and use them, isn’t it?” 

McGonagall facepalmed, Snape glowered and looked like he’d been sucking on a lemon. 

“What’s going on down here? Oh, my, a boat! I don’t remember anything at the staff meeting about a boat!” Professor Sprout exclaimed, upon joining the rest of them on the dock.

“The students made it Pomona!”

“Well, goodness, it appears to be very nice work, all of you. Is it safe?”

“Oh, yes Professor. We’ve already had it out on the water. We brought along a rescue elf, just in case.”

“Oh, that was a good idea. People just don’t give elves their due. Give me a hand up, would you, Cedric?”

The other students, who had been standing back quietly once the professors arrived, came to life. Cedric helped Professor Sprout on to the boat, and then Cho, before following himself. That was all it took, and soon the rest were scrambling to get on as well.

“One at a time, people, we don’t want to overbalance. Alright, the rest of you will have to wait for a bit—there is a weight and passenger limit, you know.”

“Sit down, Harry. Professor Flitwick is going to drive this time.” 

“Everyone seated? Goody! Let’s test this baby out!” 

The students lucky enough to get aboard first cheered as they started out over the water. 

Professor McGonagall and Snape both looked ready to strangle their colleagues. Their colleagues were out of reach, but the remaining students weren’t. They were chivied back up the stairs, and back into the castle, complaining all the while. 

“Ten points from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!” McGonagall sniped as she stalked back across the grounds. 

 

 

The days and weeks passed swiftly, and already the autumn equinox was there—it seemed only yesterday really, when they’d all been dancing in the summer. 

If all had gone to plan, there should be people in place in spots all over Europe and northward, the Middle East and Africa. 

Harry was used to starting the dances--he'd been in the group doing so since they'd started doing them at Hogwarts. This time was different. Tom and the others were all a lot further east than they were, which meant they had already started dancing hours previously. The students in the great hall turned to look at Dumbledore curiously when he stood and held up his hands for silence, smiling and twinkling like a merry old grandpa. Everyone quieted down, curious as to what sort of announcement he planned on making—he’d tried forbidding the dances last time, but it hadn’t done much good.

They never did find out what he was going to say. Just as he was about to speak the crest of the magic generated by the dancing elsewhere at last reached Hogwarts castle.   
The students stood from their seats, right there in the great hall and began dancing in the aisles, whirling, twirling and leaping as they headed for the courtyard where there was a bit more room.  
They could feel not only a number of familiar people dancing out on the grounds of Hogwarts and in the village of Hogsmeade, they could feel the entirety of Britain and Ireland dancing with them—all the magical parts at least. Harry could feel all the tendrils from all the far-flung places converging on him, and he could feel his family—Arcturus and Melania, Barty and Dora, Sirius and Adeline, Lucius and Narcissa, Ted and Andromeda…he could feel the web tighten across all the scattered magical places and pull tight.   
Harry danced alone in the center of a whirling maelstrom—but he wasn’t truly alone. He could feel Tom there, mirroring his movements and dancing with him, for all that hundreds of miles lay between them. 

The force of magic that had settled itself in the earth—in ley lines and nodes where the intersecting coils met—when wizarding kind had come to this world millennia ago, pulled itself free from the channels in which it had long lain, and threaded itself through and around all those places captured and gathered up by the dance. All of it led back to Hogwarts, where magic still lay firmly anchored, deep beneath the castle, and running through it. 

He wondered if the muggles noticed the loss. Did the world seem a little less sparkly to them—or, being muggles, did it feel safer, less alien, and more like home? He didn’t know—all he knew was that all the magical places so far captured had shifted slightly sideways, and were no longer properly part of the world around them. He doubted most people would even notice in their day to day lives—the floo still strung them all together, and apparation took you to the place you visualized. With the exception of those who had family among the muggles, the majority of witches and wizards actually went most of their lives without venturing into those areas controlled by them—though they still saw the planes and helicopters overhead, heard cars passing in the distance, and saw the results of chemicals and pollution spreading beyond their target locations.

Things had gone far enough already that the process would not be easily stopped—but it could still be done—though the consequences would likely take out Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and a large chunk of magical Europe. As the power began to wane, he could feel that Dumbledore was resisting the pull, and hoped he wasn't going to be a problem later. When the magic subsided, everyone simply trooped inside for dinner and resumed the day as though nothing of note had happened in between. Magic would be leaving the world come summer. Everyone would be given a choice then; magic’s survival depended upon it—it would not allow frightened, short-sighted people to interfere before the time of choosing was upon them.


	5. The non-violent student protest of 1994

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbledore tries to re-exert control over Hogwarts. The students object.

The month of October rolled in with rain and thunder. The grounds became a marsh of thick, sticky mud. Between the mud, the rain, and the blustery winds, the weekly herbology lessons became a chore. They could see Stan ambling around the grounds hauling animal feed and tending the pumpkin patch. He'd filled out quite a bit since he'd taken over from Hagrid, and his skin had started clearing up. He was almost looking like a respectable groundskeeper these days.

Rumor had it he'd been fixing up Hagrid's hut, which he had taken over along with the job. There was supposed to be an upstairs now, and a proper bathroom with a tub. There were even white curtains in the windows these days. He'd been encouraging people to refer to the hut as 'Shunpike Cottage'. Word around school was that he was looking to get married, and thought he had a better chance of convincing a witch to join him in 'Shunpike Cottage' than he did in 'Hagrid's Hut'. He wasn't having much luck yet--Hagrid had been there for nearly fifty years before he died, so Hagrid's hut was something of a landmark.

 

When there were only two weeks left until the foreign students were due to arrive, the castle went into a frenzy of cleaning and sprucing up. This was a less onerous job than it might have been in years past--groups of first years had been 'encouraged' to volunteer over the course of the school year to sign up for shifts to help out Filch for extra credit in Charms, or house points, since the Melting Pot's inception. As a result, the castle was cleaner and far more well-tended than it had been in years. Mr. Filch was but one man, and a squib at that, and the house elves were too busy tidying the common rooms and dorms, cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner and washing the resulting dishes, as well as doing laundry for everyone in the castle to really do much for the castle at large.

Even with the extra help, there was still a lot to be done. The portraits were scrubbed until the folks in them were apple cheeked and gleaming. The endless rows of suits of armor were polished to a mirror finish. The outlying rooms and corridors that didn't see much daily traffic were scoured of dust, debris and cobwebs, and the blankets of dust that coated many of the abandoned classrooms were whisked away. The walls, ceilings and flagstones were scrubbed, the banners and tapestries laundered and pressed, the courtyard gardens were spruced up, the windows shined…

Even with everyone in the school pitching in, it still took a while to get the whole place up to snuff. They were all quite pleased with the results. Hogwarts looked practically brand new--well, as new as a thousand year old castle could.

Before they knew it, it was the end of the month, and the delegations from the other schools were due to arrive that evening by dinner time. Everyone was instructed to make sure they were well turned out. The heads of house even inspected everyone as they were heading outside to await the others, leaving straightened ties, creased trousers, polished shoes, and tucked in shirttails in their wake.

It was a chill, blustery day, though thankfully not raining. The whole school lined up into regimented rows in front of the gates of the school, with the headmaster and teaching staff arrayed before them. They made a rather impressive sight. At least, they did when they first lined up. As the minutes ticked by, the neat rows dissolved as the students began huddling together to keep warm, chatting with friends and speculating on what their foreign visitors would be like.

 

“I can’t believe they’re letting a bunch of ruddy dark wizards stay at our school all year.” Ron grumbled.

“What are you talking about?” Dean wondered.

“Durmstrang teaches the dark arts, you know.”

“It’s an elective, just like it used to be at Hogwarts.” Hermione informed him. “And depending on how they’re using the term ‘dark arts’, it may mean they’re learning rituals, blood magic and such, or it may simply mean that they’re trying to stretch the known boundaries of magic…” 

“Exactly! Wait, what?” Ron spluttered.

“And knowing Dumbledore’s biases, it’s doubtful any of the students with the Durmstrang delegation are taking it—after all, I have it on good authority he was the one responsible for it being removed from the Hogwarts curriculum…of course, what did he care? He already had his OWL, NEWT and mastery in the subject. It’s not like it impacted him in any way.”

“You sound like you object.” Ron huffed.

“I don’t like ‘do as I say, not as I do’ in anyone.”

“Well he was right to do it, wasn’t he? I mean, look at all those ruddy death eaters! They all went mad with the dark arts and did terrible, awful things!”

“And yet, one has to wonder—had they been learning in school, in a public setting, where they could be monitored for possible problems, rather than studying on their own in hidden corners….” Harry trailed off suggestively. “I mean, it’s ironic, don’t you think? It was removed, to ‘protect the public from nasty, icky dark wizards’…and yet, the only thing that happened is a dark lord rose soon afterwards that everyone in Britain at least, agrees was the worst by far—even though he didn’t succeed in conquering Britain, let alone most of Europe.”

“Well, Grindlewald, who did conquer most of Europe, attended Durmstrang, which teaches the dark arts.” Ron said snidely.

“He was expelled at age 15” Hermione corrected, sounding apologetic “Which would seem to indicate he was yet another who learned on his own, hidden away in dark corners—which would actually seem to support Harry’s point, wouldn’t you agree?”

“No, I do not agree! Dark arts are terrible, awful and disgusting and the headmaster was absolutely right to forbid them!”

“So you support unknown dark wizards running amok and terrorizing the populace, in other words?”

“Wha…Huh? No! Bloody hell, stop putting words in my mouth." Ron spluttered.

"Uh, guys? Something's happening." Neville interjected before they could devolve into a full-blown argument.

"About time. I'm half frozen." Ginny muttered from nearby.

"Yeah, I see 'em. What are they? Pegasuses?" Ron wondered.

"Pegasi, and no…abraxans drawing carriages." Hermione disagreed.

"Blimey! Look at the size of the things! Bloody hell, they're coming right for us!"

There were a few shrieks as the gigantic carriages, each pulled by abraxans the size of an elephants came to a skidding stop in front of them. Once they were settled, golden footrests descended from the sides. A couple of boys lilted out of a few of the carriages and hurried to the others to help the girls in the other carriages to alight. One of the boys hurried to the carriage in the lead to help the headmistress--a twelve foot tall woman--descend from her carriage as well.

The Beauxbatons students looked to be suffering in their thin silk uniforms. Dumbledore kept the greetings short and invited them to head inside to warm up while the rest of them waited for the Durmstrang contingent to arrive. The shivering students seemed profoundly grateful, and many already seemed to be regretting their choice to come so far north when winter was approaching.

"Look! The lake!"

They had waited a while longer after the Beauxbatons students had entered the castle, and yet had nearly missed the arrival of Durmstrang, as everyone was scanning the skies looking for sight of them. Durmstrang had arrived by ship. The lake began to boil and churn, forming a maelstrom. A derelict looking ship--like something out of a muggle ghost pirate movie--rose up out of the seething water and drifted silently towards the shore. A long wooden gangplank descended from the ship and a tall man in dark furs, followed by a double row of boys in scarlet wool with fur capes and hats marched after him. More greetings were exchanged, though this time the students were perfectly content to wait, standing at ease behind their headmaster--they, at least, were dressed for the weather.

Ron suddenly squealed while staring at the Durmstrang boys and grabbed Hermione's arm to keep himself from jumping up and down.

"Bloody hell! Viktor Krum! Do you see? Viktor Krum! Oh, I hope they sit with Gryffindor! Do you think he'd talk to me? Should I ask for his autograph? I don’t want to come on too strong. Merlin! I think he just looked at me!"

"Is there something you want to tell us Ron?" Hermione asked, before pulling her arm away and giving Ron a dirty look.

Ginny slanted a glance Harry's way, before tossing her hair and smiling cheerfully at the Durmstrang boys.

"I can't imagine what you'd have to talk to him about. Me, on the other hand…I'm on the quidditch team, and we're both seekers."

"If I could make a suggestion to you both? He's a guy, just like any other. Don't squeal or follow him around. Just treat him like you would anyone else. I can tell you this much, fan mania gets old really fast."

"You know, it might just be my imagination…but they all seem to be looking over here." Parvati mused while preening for Viktor Krum.

"Yeah, they do. Thanks a lot Ron, now they all probably think we're weird or something." Lavender griped while flashing a smile at the Durmstrang boys.

"Hey, looks like we can head inside." Neville noted.

"Good. It's freezing out here when you're just standing around for hours and hours." Seamus said thankfully.

 

Once back inside, the Hogwarts students headed inside to the great hall and took their usual seats. Once everyone was settled, Dumbledore stood to address the crowd. There were some extra faces at the teachers table--Ludo Bagman, who Harry knew was with the International games and sports department of the Ministry. There was also a fussy looking older man, who Neville informed them was Algernon Covington-Smythe, who had taken over for Barty Sr. as the head of international relations.

Dumbledore made a speech to welcome the foreign delegations, who marched in when announced and took seats among the Hogwarts students--Beauxbatons with Ravenclaw and Durmstrang with Slytherin.

"No fair. Why couldn't they sit with us?" Ron grumbled.

"They should have had them at Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff so they'd be in the middle, and we all could have gotten to see them up close. This is really unfair."

"Look at bloody Malfoy! He just shook Viktor Krum's hand!" Ron seethed with jealousy.

The tables filled with food, including a lot of foods that were unfamiliar to some of the Hogwarts students, which had probably been added in deference to their guests. They could dimly hear one of the Beaxbatons girls complaining about Hogwarts--it was ugly and cold and didn't compare in any way to the glory of Beauxbatons, apparently.

"Well, honestly! How rude!" Hermione griped, glaring at the blonde girl who was talking, before turning back to her food.

"Ooh, bouillabaisse." Harry said happily, before dishing up some for himself.

"I'm surprised you even know what it is." Hermione said.  
"Sounds foreign." Ron muttered.

"It is--tasty too. Kreacher apparently had a touch for French food, and he taught Oddment everything he knew. He makes a mean bouillabaisse, and his French onion soup is to die for."

"Excuse me. Do you mind if I take ze bouillabaisse?" The blonde Beauxbatons girl from earlier asked politely, after approaching their table.

"I'M THE MINISTER OF MAGIC!" Ron suddenly shouted as his face went slack and his eyes glazed over.

"I'm an artist you know. I specialize in nudes. Would you like me to immortalize you in my art?"

"I'm a famous author…and an auror. I fight crime and then write about it. I'm very brave and dashing."

Harry blinked and glanced askance at his roommates. Neville's face was red and he was giggling while staring at the girl. She ignored them rather pointedly.

 _"Excuse me, miss. Would you happen to be a veela by any chance?"_ Harry asked in French, while hefting the tureen of bouillabaisse to hand to her.

_"Non, only a quarter. My grandmother was a full-blooded veela."_

  
_"Ah. I don't suppose you know of anything they could do so they won't react quite so strongly? I imagine this will quickly grow tiresome for both of us."_

  
_"I have been told that calming draughts help, as does being in love. Self-control is also useful."_ she added with a sniff directed at the boys, most of whom were now drooling as well.

  
_"I'll be sure to pass the word on. It was very nice to meet you Miss?"_

  
_"Delacour. Fleur Delacour."_

  
_"Harry Potter. Delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Delacour."_

 

The girl flashed him a smile before heading back to the Ravenclaw table with the tureen. Ron, Dean, Neville and Seamus snapped out of their daze once she was away from them.

"Bloody hell. What was that? Tell me I didn't really offer to do a nude statue of her?" Dean muttered, sounding mortified. "Be nice if she accepted, but still…"

"She's a veela! It's just like at the World Cup!"

"Quarter, actually." Hermione sniped while glaring daggers at the girl. "Do try to have some self control!"

"She said calming draughts help. We'll have to make up some. Chances are you won't be around her much. She isn't likely to be around any of our classes or anything, so you can all just carry one in your pocket in case of emergency or something."

"Why weren't you affected?" Ron grumbled.

"Self control, I imagine."

"I HAVE SELF"

"RON!" Hermione snapped.

"control" Ron finished more quietly.

"Well I guess you told me." Harry snorted.

"If gran knew what sort of things I was thinking when that girl was over here, she'd have hided me for sure!" Neville mumbled.

"I hope she comes by again. I was having some lovely visuals. I don't care if I get hided--it would be worth it." Seamus snickered. "Hottest. Girl. Ever." he added with some authority.

Naturally, this didn't win him many friends among the Gryffindor girls, who settled in to have a long and protracted bitch session about the 'French tart'.

 

They were approached a short time later by another blonde girl in a Beauxbatons uniform. Unlike the previous one, this girl looked to be about eight. She was tiny and blonde and staring at all of them with rapt interest while bouncing excitedly on her toes.

"Hello. Can we help you?"

She smiled and began speaking excitedly in French, so fast though that it was hard to understand her.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down."

The little girls smiled sheepishly and began speaking again, this time at a more normal pace.

"What's she's saying?" Ron asked.

Harry grinned at her and then at Ron, Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Lavender--none of whom, it seemed, spoke French.

"She's a fan. She read our pirate book when it came out and has all the action figures."

They all blinked and looked over at the little girl who beamed at all of them excitedly.

"Hey Dean, why don't you do your stuff."  
Dean stared at him for a moment, puzzled, before his eyes suddenly widened in understanding.

"I don't have any…ah, nevermind." he laughed as Harry dug out some parchment from the pouch on his belt and handed it over.

Harry explained to the girl what Dean was doing. She climbed up on the bench beside him to watch. Dean smiled at the girl, who watched raptly as 'captain Harry' and the pirate crew of the Marauder formed under his wand, and then squealed in excitement as a drawing of herself as a pirate was added to the picture.

  
She took her picture and kissed Dean chastely on the cheek in thanks, before hurrying back to the Ravenclaw table with it clutched to her chest.

 

"She was cute." Parvati giggled. "Why is she here with the rest of them though?"

"She's Fleur Delacour's sister, Gabrielle."

"Are…they orphans or something?" Lavender whispered sadly.

"No, they're both a quarter veela."

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"Her being with her sister keeps her from maturing and her allure from developing until she's older. She's actually thirteen; she's a third year at Beauxbatons. They sent her along with Fleur because she's still too young. They don't want her developing her allure until she's at least sixteen. Once her sister is married and out of the picture, she'll start maturing and looking her actual age, and her allure will start to develop as well."

"You mean she would have developed it if they hadn't of sent her along?"

"Probably. This way she gets one more year to hold things back. Can you even imagine? A little girl developing that kind of power? She'd be lucky if she wasn't torn apart by a mob of drooling men. Even if she wasn't torn apart, she'd probably be rather traumatized by the whole experience. A power like that is a double edged sword to say the least, and it isn't something they can turn off or get away from. It's a part of them. I know a lot of people imagine the power to turn the opposite sex into drooling idiots that are enraptured by you very presence sounds grand. I think they wouldn't like it so much were they actually forced to live with such a power and couldn't stop it."

 

When everyone had eaten, Dumbledore stood to address the crowd.

"As you all know, we are gathered here for the opening of the Tri-Wizard tournament…"

As he began speaking again of glory, Harry tuned him out. He wasn't going to be roped into the tournament in this universe, not unless something really weird was going on. He nudged Neville who he'd noticed had been a bit glum all day.

"What's with you, anyway?"

Neville leaned closer so he could whisper and not interrupt Dumbledore's speech.

"Tomorrow's Halloween. They'll be choosing the champions after dinner. There's not going to be a puppet show."

"So we'll be having it November 1st?"

"You don't understand. There aren't going to be any. Professor Sprout told Hannah earlier. We've been spending every free moment getting the puppets ready and the script and we've been practicing so we'd be ready in time and they tell as at the very last minute that it was all for nothing."

"But why?"

"She didn't say, she just said she was sorry."

"What the heck is going on? First Madame Perks disappears and we're just told there's no choir this year, now this. I've heard that the fencing club hasn't been meeting either. Lucius had been hoping Hogwarts could start competing again. It might have been hard this year with the move and all, but he was kind of looking forward to it. I didn't even know he wasn't coming regularly until just the other day. We've all been so busy keeping up on assignments that we haven't been getting together as a group as often to exchange news, and I haven't been hearing from Sirius and all as often because they've been travelling and going to a lot of meetings because of the move, so I haven't been getting updates from that quarter either. Did they seriously get rid of everything?"

"It's starting to look that way. The question is why?"

"Did you hear about what happened when Ron tried to organize pick-up quidditch games?"

"Yeah. A flat no."

"I can't say I like where this is going."

Dumbledore was still talking and twinkling, but they caught him casting a sharp look their way. He obviously didn't appreciate them talking through his speech.  
Algernon Covington-Smyth stood and for a moment Dumbledore looked irritated, but it lasted for but a moment before he smiled again and retook his seat.

"The goblet of fire will choose the best candidate for each school from the names submitted for choosing. Do not enter your name lightly. If you are chosen as a champion, you will be magically bound by the goblet to see the tournament through to the end. The goblet, once lit, will burn for 24 hours, and during that time will accept candidates. At this time tomorrow, the champions will be chosen. So, without further ado, I do hereby declare the Tri-Wizard Tournament open!"

He pointed his wand at the giant goblet that had been brought out to stand in front of the teacher's table. The goblet 'whooshed' and filled with a mass of flickering fire that began to dance within its depths.

The boys of Durmstrang all stood and lined up to begin submitting their names at once.  
Beauxbatons, not wanting to be shown up, were soon lined up to do the same. A few of the older Hogwarts students began trickling up after them in twos and threes to submit their names as well.

 

  
“Oi! What’s with you, anyway? It’s exciting, innit?”

Harry glanced at Ron, and then cast a disinterested glance at the goblet of fire, which was set up in the great hall, with great gouts of flame billowing from the cup. All morning, and afternoon students who were of age had been steeling themselves and putting in their names, while those too young, or too frightened, watched in envy and awe. He was sure he’d gain some enthusiasm for the whole tournament once the tasks rolled around, but at the moment he just couldn’t muster up any.  
It was nearly time for the champions to be chosen.

“Oh, something’s happening!”

It was all very well staged, he could admit. The darkened great hall…the headmaster dramatically underlit by the flaming goblet, the singed pieces of paper fluttering out one by one, trailing smoke and sparks.

Viktor Krum—the Bulgarian seeker who had caught the snitch at the world cup was chosen for Durmstrang. Fleur Delacour—the part veela blonde bombshell who left trails of drooling, stuttering idiots in her wake wherever she went was chosen for Beauxbatons. Cedric Diggory, all-around Hufflepuff and his rival for the affections of the lovely Cho Chang was chosen for Hogwarts.

Poor Cho, she looked torn between pride and terror when his name was called. She also looked a bit rueful—but then, she’d unloaded one famous guy for one who was on his way to being famous. He really hoped Cedric didn’t have any savage stalker fan-girls.

“Say, I don’t remember hearing anything about the puppet show.” Ginny spoke up suddenly.

“That’s because there isn’t one.” Neville sighed.

“But…we always have a puppet show on Halloween.”

“It was felt that, since the Tournament is being opened tonight that a puppet show would take away from the solemnity of the proceedings.” Dean said in a very proper, snotty voice.

“Well, when’s it going to be then?”

“The puppet brigade is more or less defunct for the year.”

“So’s the choir.” Harry told her. “And the fencing club. The artists’ studio is still open, but they’ve been informed there won’t be any shows this year.”

“Are you telling me they not only cancelled quidditch, but they took away pretty much every worthwhile thing that breaks up the monotony of endless classes and homework?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Dean agreed.

“So what the hell are we supposed to do all year?”

“Stay in our common rooms like good little boys and girls, do homework, and play exploding snap?” Harry guessed.

“The chess club is still open. So’s gobstones.”

“This all means the paper is pretty much defunct as well, doesn’t it?” Hermione realized. “We covered all those things. With none of them going on all year, the only thing we’d really have to report would be the rankings for the chess and gobstones clubs, and the tournament, which is only three events, and spread out over the whole year!”

“What about the cunning artificers?”

“We’ve always had those presentations in the Melting Pot, so I guess they’re still on. I suppose when it comes right down to it we can just do everything in the Melting Pot—the puppet shows, the artists shows. Yeah, there won’t be any big fair at the end of the year, but oh well. You’d think they’d have wanted to showcase Hogwarts talents in front of the foreign visitors; honestly, I don’t know what they’re thinking.”

“Maybe they want to make sure no one realizes the best stuff is done at Hogwarts when the teachers aren’t involved.”

“Could be, who knows? You might be on to something though; lord knows McGonagall and Snape had a major hissy fit about the boat we built. We’d probably have been in detention for the whole year if Flitwick and Sprout hadn’t of come to the rescue.”

“Sometimes, you’d swear some of the teachers didn’t want us to do magic.” Ron noted.

“That’s ridiculous! We’re at a school for magic!” Hermione objected.

“A school for magic where we’re not supposed to do magic in the great hall, in the hallways, in our common rooms, on the grounds…technically, the only approved place is in class during practicals, which is usually the last fifteen minutes of class. Then, when we go home for the summer, we’re not supposed to be doing magic there either. Were it not for the Melting Pot, most of us would have so little experience using magic, we would frankly suck at it, for lack of practice, if nothing else.” Harry pointed out.

“And now they’re trying to take it away from us.” Neville realized.

“Trying. No one said they’ll succeed. In fact, if we do it right, we’ll still manage to cover expenses, open ourselves to a wider audience, and start a whole underground rebellion culture all in one fells swoop.”

“What is it with you and rebellions?” Hermione huffed.

“You know the saying ‘the squeaky wheel gets the oil? It’s kind of like that. If you don’t like something, you have to be prepared to do something about it. Sitting around moping and wishing things were different never got anyone anywhere. If we want the quality of education and extracurricular activities we’ve become accustomed to, it’s up to us to see that we get it.”

The bell for curfew rang, and the students all grumbled and began rising from their seats.

“All these late-night feasts are really cutting into our Melting Pot time. We’ll have a big meeting tomorrow to discuss what all we can do to throw off the shackles of our oppressors. Sound good?”

“Hell yeah!” Seamus agreed cheerfully. “After this summer, I’ve discovered a taste for rebellion.”

“That’s the spirit!”

 

 

“Wow…the Melting Pot has really grown, hasn’t it?” Hannah remarked in awe. “I mean, I knew there were a lot of us, because the place is always so crowded, but with everyone in their separate sections, you don’t really realize just how many of us there are. I had wondered why you wanted to hold the meeting somewhere else. I didn’t even know this room was here.”

“We don’t all fit in the presentation room anymore, and this room is one of those ones that shows up occasionally. Hogwarts does love her tricks. I don’t know why you’re so surprised by our numbers though—we have everyone fifth year and below of all four houses. Of course there’s a lot of us.”

“Wow…we have five-sevenths of the school.”

“Five-eights if you count the teachers and staff, but yeah. That’s why our rebellion will work out—majority rules and all that.”

“Where’d you get the banners for the clubs and all?” Justin wondered.

“Hogwarts did that. Like I said, she likes her tricks.”

The fifth, fourth, third, second and first years were all gathered in one of the rooms of requirement—one on the far side of the castle where Harry didn’t venture often. He was willing to sacrifice it in order to have a meeting room big enough to hold all of them. The room that had been created was a large, rounded ampitheatre with stone step-benches climbing the walls and an oval stage at the bottom center. On one side of the room hung the Hogwarts flag, bracketed to each side by two house banners. Arrayed around the rest of the wall near the ceiling were a row of banners depicting the different clubs and societies, with a Melting Pot flag in the center, hanging opposite the Hogwarts flag. The stone benches each bore one of the house colors in alternating rows. It made for a cheery, colorful display, and also made the ‘rebellion’ meeting feel very official.

When the last of the students had wandered in and found their seats beneath whichever club or society banner most suited them, the door vanished from the wall, insuring they wouldn’t be disturbed, even should any of the faculty decide to come looking for all of them.

Harry and the other “Founders” of the Melting Pot sat arrayed on a bench on the stage, waiting for everyone to settle down.

“Alright everyone! Quiet! We have a lot to cover and not much time to do it in. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you, one and all, to the first meeting of the Rebellion.”

 _“Rebellion? What are you on about Potter? I’m not wearing a bloody kilt and painting myself up like a loon!”_ Zacharias Smith sputtered from his place in the audience.

“Wrong rebellion, Zach, now please be quiet until I’m finished. Now, as I’m sure all of you know from the beginning of the year, quidditch has been cancelled”

The stands erupted in boos and howls. Harry let everyone vent their disappointment, and then continued.

“What many of you may not know is that Ron Weasley tried to organize weekend pickup games” He let the stir of excitement and interest build for a moment “and was denied categorically.”

Moans of protest arose from the quidditch fanatics.

“It seems the pitch will be be used for at least one of the Triwizard tasks, and so has been made forbidden to all students for the year. Now, that’s bad enough…but then, I’m sure many of you noticed that our puppeteer brigade didn’t perform their annual Halloween show this year. I know what many of you are thinking…it got postponed, because the tournament was being opened that night, right? Wrong. It was cancelled, as were all further shows for the year.”

A ripple of dissatisfaction went through the audience.

“It gets worse, people. The choir will not be performing this year either. The annual artists show has been cancelled, the fencing club has been disbanded till further notice and will not be heading off to compete this year like we thought. Our annual end of the year fair during the last week of school has also been cancelled. Naturally, this cessation of our normal activities has rendered our paper moot as well, because, let’s face it, we’d have nothing much to write about.”

A discontented murmur rippled through the crowds again. Once more, Harry let it go on awhile before calling for silence again.

“What I fear is that this Tournament is being used as an excuse to return to the pre-Melting Pot status quo…for all you third, second and first years out there, you probably don’t realize how different you school experience has been, right from the beginning. Before the Melting Pot. It used to be that students didn’t fraternize with people outside their house. There was no choir, no puppet shows, no art shows—or lessons. There was no school paper, or printing club. There was no instruction on how to research and repair magical items…I could go on. There was quidditch, but only seven people in each house get to play, and it was the cause of deep and bitter rivalry between the houses because there were no unifying things to counterbalance it. Before the Melting Pot, once classes were over for the day, you had two choices—go to the library, or to your common room. That’s where you got to spend all your time. We changed all that. Before the Melting Pot, the average student got roughly fifteen minutes of practical experience in casting magic in each class, and that was pretty much it for a given day. The Melting Pot changed all that. When I look around at all of you now, I can only be proud and amazed at what our little experiment has become in the years since it was implemented. What I see is Hogwarts as it was meant to be! Unfortunately for all of us, it is a Hogwarts that those in authority seem determined to erase. Anthony and Mandy here are going to take the floor for a bit and regale you with some statistics. Now, don’t make faces. We’ve been compiling statistics since the Melting Pot’s inception, because we wanted to see whether what we were doing was impactful in any way. The short answer is yes. Anthony and Mandy are going to give you the long answer. I think you’ll all find it as interesting as I did. Anthony? Mandy? It’s all yours.”

“Thank you, Harry.” Mandy Brocklehurst said as she and Anthony Goldstein moved to take center stage.

“Like Harry just said, we’ve been compiling statistics on the Melting Pot and its members since we began, because we were curious whether all our little games were actually useful in a quantifiable way, because, while undoubtedly fun, we needed to know if we’d be better off studying—we’re here at Hogwarts for an education first and foremost.” Anthony began.  
“As you can probably already guess, since neither of us left to go hit the library, the stuff we do in the Melting Pot is useful…very useful, in fact. There has been a marked increase in not only individual grades since the Melting Pot began, but as a group, our grades are on average higher than grades have been for the last twenty years.” Mandy continued.

Mandy and Anthony had made some graphs for display, and spent a good long while listing a lot of numbers and percentages—grades by subject, by grade, by house, by year, and then supplemented their data with anecdotal evidence—it had become increasingly hard to miss in recent years what a gap had formed between their group and the rest of the school. They just knew more, on average, and they had an ease and facility with magic that their peers in the upper years just didn’t have. They had no doubt that, for most of them, if you dropped them naked in a forest with just their wand, they would not only survive, but thrive, given time and effort. They were pretty sure a good number of their older peers would starve, freeze, or get eaten by a magical creature, or even a mundane one, in short order. Most of them didn’t seem to really know how to do anything useful with their magic, because without the Melting Pot, they simply hadn’t had the time and leisure to practice, learn and experiment the way all of them had. There were exceptions, of course—there were Percy, as well as Fred and George Weasley types in every year, but they were the exception, not the rule.

“All of these are damning enough.” Anthony pointed out “but the real evidence is in the OWLs taken last year. As you may or may not be aware, Hogwarts moved from the five-two system it’s had in place for a number of years now to the international standard four-three curriculum. The original plan was to implement it with the incoming first years and move from there until the whole school fell under it. It was decided to implement it with the fourth year students last year, because we in the Melting Pot were so far ahead of our elder peers. So, last year’s fifth and fourth years took the OWLs together. The fifth year’s scores were well within the range of scores for the last twenty years. The lowest number of OWLs achieved was three, the highest ten. This is the average range of OWL scores. Usually there is only one person on average every five years who decides to go for twelve—there were none such among the fifth years last year”

“Exactly. The fourth years, however, completely blew those averages out of the water. The lowest number of OWLs scored for them was five, the highest twelve…and there were eight people who did it. There’s more. Since Professor Snape has started teaching Potions, the average number of students in his NEWT class has been between four and six, as they were the only ones who qualified. Among our fifth years, there were fifteen people qualified to take potions this year…only ten of the fifteen have opted to do so. There were double the usual number of students qualified for all areas of NEWT level study. The gap in scores is glaring enough on its own, even without considering that the higher-scoring group had a year’s less instruction. It’s obvious the difference is in the Melting Pot.” Mandy concluded.

“Thank you. Everyone, let’s give a round of applause to our fine compilers in the statistical society for their hard work.” Harry spoke up as he retook center stage.

“Well, there you have it, everyone. Our games, our activities, have made all of us better, more well-rounded witches and wizards. By taking our education into our own hands, we’ve made the most of our school years. All of us gathered here have fewer inter-house problems, higher grades, better facility with magic, and we can do things with it that are both fun and practical. The extra-curricular activities have served to make our Hogwarts experience more fun all around. And yet…for some reason…the powers that be are trying to take all that away from us. I don’t know about all of you, but I found the lack of arts and culture in Hogwarts before the Melting Pot to be rather depressing. I think that test scores like those achieved by our eldest members should be the norm, not a shocking exception to the rule! I think every witch and wizard, when they graduate after seven years of schooling should have a firm grasp on all the basics they will need to see them through life. I think every witch and wizard who graduates Hogwarts should have the skills and contacts to have their choice of careers, and not be pigeonholed into one narrow choice because they simply have no other options. I prefer the Hogwarts that all of us made together these last four years! Hogwarts is supposed to be the premier school of magic, and we’re certainly paying for that kind of education! I am not paying to be stuck in a noisy, overcrowded common room for half of each day, having at most fifteen minutes of practice doing magic in any given class, nor having weeks upon weeks in between anything of interest happening! Together, all of us created a better Hogwarts—a school and an education that we all can be proud of! I refuse to let anyone take that away from us! If any of you are with me, say aye!”

“Aye!”

_“What was that? That was pathetic! Let me hear you! Are you with me?”_

**“AYE!”**

_“Come on! You can all do better than that! This is our futures we’re all talking about! Do you want your parents paying top dollar so you can sit in the common room all evening playing exploding snap, all while getting a substandard education and no artistic outlets? Are you going to stand for having YOUR education and YOUR future put on the line like this? Well are you? If you’re willing to stand with me as part of the Hogwarts revolution, stand and say **AYE and this time, let me HEAR YOU!”**_

**“AYE!”**

The students voices echoed around the amphitheater like a thunderclap.

**“WHO’S WITH ME?”**

**“WE ARE!”**

**“WHO ARE WE?”**

**“THE HOGWARTS REBELLION!”**

**“Who’s gonna stop us?”**

**“NO ONE!”**

Harry grinned at all the shouting students and rocked back on his heels.

“Now that’s what I like to hear!”

He let everyone retake their seats. “Now I’ll be opening the floor to the lovely Hannah Abbot, current president of the Puppeteer Brigade and Dean Bonham, current president of the Artists’ Studio. Miss Abbot, and Mr. Bonham have some ideas for an underground arts movement…”

 

 

 

“What’s the hold up? Move along…move along!”

“We’re just looking at the statue, professor.”

“What statue?” McGonagall demanded with some asperity.

The crowd of sixth and seventh years, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students moved aside so she could see what they were all lingering to gawp at. There was a sculpture in the entryway, where it couldn’t help but be seen by anyone trying to get into the great hall for breakfast. It was roughly four foot high, on a plinth. It depicted a school-age boy with wings and a loincloth, chained and shackled to the ground beneath him. He had a wand in one hand, and by the look of it had managed to shatter some of the chains, allowing one arm and part of a wing free. It was rather masterfully done, really—excellent transfiguration and a good eye for detail. You could almost feel how heavy the chains were by how the child seem nearly buckled beneath them, almost feel his relief that one of his poor, abused wings was nearly free, you could see his determination in his eyes as he wielded his wand to free himself.

“Well, honestly. I don’t know what prankster decided it was a good idea to go cluttering up the place with this nonsense. Tilly!”

When a house elf appeared at her call, she waved a hand at the statue. “Do get rid of this nonsense. Put it in storage somewhere where it won’t be in the way.”

When both the elf and the stature were gone, she began shooing the students into the great hall impatiently.

“Well? Show’s over. Move along.”

The sound of singing suddenly echoed down the stairwell.

“What on earth!” With a much put upon sigh, she turned and marched back upstairs in search of the culprits to make them cease and desist at once—it was time for breakfast, not useless dilly-dallying, that made idiot students clog up the entryway and the staircases to listen! She couldn’t say she cared for their choice of song, either—the anthem of the goblin rebellion of 1683, of all things!

By now, other teachers had come out to see what the commotion in the hall was about. McGonagall had just gotten to the second floor landing, where it seemed the singing was coming from, when it cut off, and a new song started echoing up from the dungeons—this time the rebellion march of 1943 when a group of witches and wizards had marched on the Ministry to protest the removal of dark magic from the curriculum at Hogwarts.

Snape huffed and started towards the dungeons to drag whatever miscreants he found up by their ears, but he had no sooner started towards the sound when it cut off and a new song started in yet another part of the castle.

This time it was a selection from The Founding, an opera about the founding of Hogwarts. The piece being sung was a four-part harmony by the four founders, extolling their wishes for the school, and for the children who would one day be their students—namely that they be well-rounded, knowledgeable, competent in all the things they would need to lead a long, successful life and be a contributing member of society.

The music cut off as McGonagall, who was fuming by now, reached the seventh floor, where it was coming from.

Everyone waited to see if the mysterious concert would continue, but the halls remained silent.

 

 

 

“What’ve you got there?”

“I found it on my trunk this morning. I think you have one too.”

 _“Theater of the Oppressed. We will not be silenced._ What does that even mean?”

“Got me. Wait, there’s directions on the back.”

“Wanna check it out?”

“Why not? Might be interesting.”

 

 

  
The Beauxbatons students stared at the tiny Hogwarts student that intercepted them on their way up to the castle. She handed each of them a lurid purple leaflet, and then turned and left without a word.  
Another first year intercepted the Durmstrang boys on their way off their boat.

_“Theater of the Oppressed. We will not be silenced.”_

“What does zat even mean?”

 

 

That evening, a bunch of curious students made their way to the seventh floor after classes let out, and went in search of the rumored theater. They found a dimly lit room with bleachers at one end, and a small, low stage at the other.

A group of four moved out onto the stage, dressed like members of a choir, while the choir director—a child wearing a grey wig, by the look of it, stood on the ground down below them. She lifted her baton, and the children began to sing. They sounded like little angels, with clear, bell-like voices.

Suddenly, a man all in grey, with a faceless mask and the word ‘oppressor’ in bold letters across his chest marched out and snatched the baton from the choir director’s hand and handed her a paper, while four more similarly dressed people gagged the children and led them off.

“I’m fired! Why? The choir is finally shaping up and we’re in the middle of a performance…”

“Too distracting and frivolous. Your kind isn’t wanted here.”

“But…but…the students want me here! I was hired to teach music!”

“No music.” The faceless oppressor repeated in a monotone, before grabbing the choir director and hustling her off towards the exit.

A furious bout of whispering—stage whispering, that is, sounded backstage.

_“They were supposed to be singing for the next twenty minutes! I’m not ready yet!”_   
_“You’d best get ready. They came to see a show. We have to get out there!”_

Set pieces were hastily shoved onto the stage, but then one was just as hastily pulled back and replaced with another while three life sized puppets walked out onto the stage and began performing ‘the fountain of fair fortune’—the first show the puppet brigade ever put on at Hogwarts.

The three witches and Sir Luckless were about to be sucked into the opening of the fountain’s obstacle course, when more of the grey, faceless ‘oppressors’ marched out into the middle of the show. Two began carrying off the set pieces, while another began reversing the disillusionment charms on the puppeteers, and another began carrying off the puppets.  
“Hey! Bring those back! We made those, they’re ours! And..and…we’re in the middle of a show here!”

“No stories and no performances. It gives people ideas.”

“But…you can’t do that! We weren’t doing anything wrong!”

“No stories.” The oppressor repeated in a monotone.

The puppeteers were hustled off stage, protesting. While this was going on, a fencing class appeared off to the side, under a spotlight. The four students were crossing swords, while the ‘teacher’ paced behind them enumerating the many benefits of the sport.

“Fencing builds strength, endurance, hand-eye coordination, balance. It teaches you to seize moments of opportunity and react in times of danger…HEY!”

The oppressors were back, snatching the swords out of the children’s hands and dragging them off.

“Hey! We’re practicing for an upcoming tournament!”

“Swords are for murderous barbarians.”

“It’s the sport of gentlemen!”

“We want none of those here.”

Back on the stage, several students were sitting before easels and painting. Oppressors took their paints and carried off their canvases.

“HEY! I’m expressing myself here!”

“Self-expression is not allowed.”

The artists and their wares were drug off the same as all the rest had been.  
Another spotlight lit up part of the floor where a group of kids were seated in a circle.

“We should write a school paper…”

They got no further before more oppressors appeared.

“Forbidden. The only writing that should be done in school is essays on approved topics.”

While the oppressors were dragging off the protesting students, more appeared on the stage, gathered around something that they were all pointing their wands at.

“What is the meaning of this?” An oppressor demanded.

“What? We’re just trying to figure out how to fix this thing!” Off to the side, another student was at a separate table, laying charms on a box. Another oppressor appeared next to him and snatched the box away.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m making something.”

“You’re doing magic.”

“Well…uh, yeah. I mean, this is a school for magic, right?”

“Innovation is not allowed.”

While the students on the stage were drug off, another spotlight shone on the floor. All the students from earlier were sitting in small groups, playing exploding snap. They were all in grey, though slightly different shades of grey.

The kids from the stage stumbled out to join them. They were wearing now dark grey, and tried to sit next to a group in light grey. An oppressor appeared and stood in their way, pointing them towards those in the same shade they were wearing.

“Colors are forbidden to mix. This is the way towards a happy society.”

“What are we supposed to do now? You took away everything.”

“There is homework, and there is exploding snap. All else is forbidden. This is the way it should be. Be happy that we’re so generous and looking out for your best interest.”

The lights dropped on the floor, and then a single spotlight shone down on the stage.

It was the angel statue from earlier, but this time, there were no broken chains, he had no wand, and had been gagged. His wings were both pinned in place, and he knelt, head down and submissive. In his hands was a sign. It read “THERE IS NO REBELLION.”

The curtains closed.

When the lights in the room brightened, the audience could see that the children in grey had all crept out while they were looking at the stage. No one came out to bow, and the curtains didn’t reopen—it seemed that was the end of the show.

“Okay, what the hell was that?”

“A protest, I’m thinking.”

 

 

 

“Ah, Dumbleydore, my students have told me ze most ridiculous story. Zhey say zat your school has cut away all ze arts programs. I told zhem ze must be mistaken, after all, why would anyone do such a thing? Is crazy, no?” Madame Maxime asked her fellow headmaster at breakfast the next morning.

“Ah, the arts. I was never the artistic type myself, I was always more of a scholar. Though I wear bright colors, the bohemian lifestyle was never for me, no. The halls of academia are where I always felt most at home. I truly believe that the mind is a great and wonderous thing—our greatest tool in fact, far more than our wands could ever be…”

While Dumbledore was settling himself in for a truly epic old-man ramble, Karkaroff was telling Snape in a whisper what his students had told him about the ‘underground theatre performance’ the night before. Flitwick, who was seated to his other side, and had very good hearing, eavesdropped unashamedly. He shook his head at what he overheard.

He had protested cancelling all the school activities for the year—quidditch was an unfortunate necessity as the pitch would be in use for two of the three tasks, which would have made having the full complement of games difficult. So, the removal of quidditch was sad but necessary; everything else? Hardly!

Why, how were they supposed to show themselves to best effect if they hid all the talents their children had? The decision made no sense to him, but he had been overruled.

He could still hear Albus—he’d yet to answer the headmistress’ question, and was instead rambling on and on about some project or other that he’d undertaken in his youth. That was when he noticed that the colorful banners that decorated the great hall were all turning grey and colorless. Then, he heard the sound of many feet, marching in unison. He nearly gasped out loud when he saw what came through the door.

 

 

Instead of children in their uniforms—black but for a splash of color at neck and chest, laughing, shoving and being children, there was a long line of somber-faced automatons dressed in boring muggle clothes. They marched along in lockstep, faces expressionless, and absolutely silent.  
They marched until they stood lined up to either side of their house table, and then all sat in unison as well. He wondered if they’d practiced.

When their food appeared, there was none of the usual jostling and joking and loud voices—all of them simply loaded their plates and began eating, still silent. It was rather unnerving, really.  
More than unnerving, it was rather depressing—grey stone, grey banners, silent children in regimented rows dressed in muted greys and browns. Why, he swore he could feel the life and vitality draining right out of him.

He chanced a look at his fellow teachers—most looked puzzled, Snape and Karkaroff were trading significant looks and raised eyebrows. Poor Pomona, she looked ready to break down crying; he was almost certain she'd be off before too long, hugging her ‘puffs and offering them candy and hot chocolate. Maxime looked genteely appalled…Minerva looked like she wasn’t sure whether to start sniffling like Pomona, or start boxing ears.

 

 

Albus was still rambling about how clever he was, and what a brilliant scholar. In the midst of all the drear and gloom, he with his blindingly white hair and beard and his outlandishly colorful robes looked like the only spot of life or light in the whole room—he looked like a one-man carnival, in fact. He seemed to like it that way, if the twinkling of his eyes was anything to go by.

Flitwick found he had quite lost his appetite. Maybe this was Albus’ idea of a perfect world—it sure wasn’t his.

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang, and the students rose in unison to march out in the same regimented ranks they entered in.

The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students had sat quietly through the whole ordeal, but then Garbrielle Delacour—Fleur’s younger sister, who had accompanied her to Hogwarts because of a quirk of part-veela biology—burst into tears.

_“This place is horrible! I want to go home!”_

Madame Maxine rose to her feet, interrupting Dumbledore, who was still regaling her with tales of how brilliant he was, and marched off without a backwards glance, chivvying her students ahead of her. Karkaroff and his boys were right behind them.

They all stopped in the entryway, and then hurried out of the castle like they couldn’t get away fast enough. Wondering what else had happened, Flitwick rose and headed out to see for himself.

  
He found another angel statue.

This one wore no chains, but there was no need-- its wings had been brutally hacked off, leaving its back a gouged mess. The wings lay, discarded at its feet, as did a broken wand, a sheet of music that had been torn in half, broken paint brushes, a mangled foil, and a broken puppet with tangled strings.

In his hands, he held a sign. It read: Wings cannot be shared, they can only be broken.

Filius sighed—he recognized it as part of a longer quote about taking ‘fairness and equality’ to absurd lengths by impairing the minds of the geniuses, breaking the hands of the artists, and taking away the voices of the gifted singers, among other things. The author had been arguing rather passionately against what he saw as the mugglification of the wizarding world; he resented how traditions and fields of magic were being stripped away so that the muggleborn would feel more at home, and he was angry at the ‘culture of muggle worship’ as he termed it, that made wizards and witches feel ashamed of a gift they were simply born with. That was where the quote about the wings had come in— _in a world where some were born with wings and others without, those without would cry foul that some people were born thus when they were not. In the interest of fairness, the ideal solution would be that all people should have wings: alas, it is a simple truth that wings cannot be shared, they can only be broken—and so, in a world where all must be ‘fair’, the only logical next step would be to maim all those born with wings…”_

  
“That explains everyone wearing muggle clothes.” He muttered to himself.

The rest of the teachers joined him not long after he got out there, and all of them just stood staring at the angel statue, rather appalled—except for Remus Lupin, who looked torn between amusement and irritation.

“This was probably that Harry Potter.” Charity Burbage sniffed, while looking at the angel like it had personally offended her.

“Even if he started the idea, it’s obviously a widespread sentiment to have garnered such unprecedented cooperation from the rest of the students. Several of us did try to tell Albus that getting rid of all of the activities was a mistake, especially with quidditch also being gone for the year. They’re children! They need something other than homework to occupy themselves with—and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I rather missed the puppet show this year.” Sprout chided.

“The end of the school year is going to be rather dull without the children’s little fair to look forward to.” Remus offered his two knuts.

“We cannot allow this to continue. The students are making the school look bad.” McGonagall grumbled.

“Actually, the students seem to have the sympathy and respect of our foreign visitors; it’s the rest of us they think are awful. I daresay our headmaster didn’t make a good impression with his reaction to the little demonstration earlier.” Snape disagreed. “One would almost think he liked it.” he shuddered. “Now, while I enjoyed the quiet, I found the robotic nature and muggle accoutrements to be rather off-putting.”

“The grey banners were a masterful touch.” Remus agreed ruefully.

“We need to make Albus see reason. All these ridiculous shenanigans aren’t doing any of our reputations any good; we’ll be the laughingstock of the international community at this rate.” Flitwick agreed.

“I doubt it was Albus’ doing. With the board of governors taking a more active role lately, I doubt he could have made such a sweeping change all on his own. They must have made the decision, which is why we were all just told we were overruled.” McGonagall objected.

“It can’t have been the board; Sirius’ grandfather is on the board, and he never mentioned anything about all the activities being suspended, and Augusta Longbottom is as well. I highly doubt she voted for such a thing, as she was the main force behind finding funding for everything. Not only that, but had it been a decision by the board, the students would be pelting them with petitions, not staging plays about oppression and marching around pretending to be muggle robots.”

“If not Albus and not the board, who else could be behind it?” Sprout wondered.

“The only group left is the Ministry.” Professor Vector pointed out.

“Come on, we’re going to get to the bottom of this.” Flitwick decided.

The warning bell for the start of classes rang.

“Well, damn it all.”

“Goodness, we’d best hurry!”

The teachers sheepishly rushed off in all directions—none of them could believe they’d gotten so distracted by the statue that they’d completely forgotten they had classrooms full of students waiting for them.

 

 

 

By dinnertime, the teachers were frazzled and irritated. The children had maintained their robotic behavior—through a combination of determination and regular calming draughts throughout the day, combined with threats made to their houses the night before to anyone who broke character before the rebellion was done.

It had make teaching seem a very thankless task. Naturally, they had all wished at one time or another that the students would be quieter, more attentive, more focused on what they were doing. They had gotten exactly what they wished for, but none of them could honestly say they were pleased about it. There was no passion there, no glint of interest, no pride in accomplishment. Staring out into that sea of blank faces all day, or worse yet, listening to them intone spells in unison while flicking their wands…it had been creepy.

They’d all practically felt the vitality seeping out of themselves as well, being around all of them. McGonagall had to bite her tongue to keep herself from taking points from everyone and throwing them all in detention for the foreseeable future—after all, they weren’t doing anything wrong, they were just being weird.

Snape had found himself taking far fewer points than normal—it just wasn’t any fun when the children just stared at you blankly for half a second and then went back to what they’d been doing.

After another silent meal, amidst grey banners in the great hall, the teachers had enough.

 

 

They cornered the headmaster after dinner. McGonagall and Flitwick, who were sitting to either side of him, each grabbed one of his wrists as the children marched out, to keep him there. They knew, if they let him escape to his office, they wouldn’t be able to discuss things that evening.  
“Might I inquire as to the reason for the restraints?”

“We’re having a staff meeting.” McGonagall told him.

“I do have some work”

“It can wait.” Sprout insisted. “This can’t.”

“Really? And what is this matter of gravest urgency?”

“We want the extra-curricular activities brought back.” Remus insisted.

Dumbledore sighed and fixed all of them with a disappointed gaze. “We already discussed this before the start of the school year, if you’ll recall.”

“And we disagreed with the decision that was made. We’re even more convinced now that it was a terrible idea!” Flitwick was quick to retort.

“I’m afraid my hands are tied. The Ministry made this decision-it’s the tournament, of course. It’s a huge, international event that will be bringing spectators from all over Europe.”

“Yes, we’re all quite aware of that, Albus. The Ministry is hosting the tournament, and has been arranging everything, and overseeing everything. What does that have to do with the activities at Hogwarts?” Snape demanded.

“I believe they don’t want anything to take away from the tournament.”

“The tournament is but three tasks, done by three people, and it is spread out over the whole school year. I highly doubt letting the children get on with their usual school activities will take away from the event in any way…and how did they get a say in such things in any case?” McGonagall was quick to retort.

“She’s right, Albus. The Ministry has never had any say in the day to day running of Hogwarts.” Snape agreed.

“Indeed! In fact, I quite recall you rubbing the Ministry’s faces in that very fact on more than one occasion. What happened?”

“I was overruled, dear lady. There’s nothing that can be done, I’m afraid.”

“The hell there isn’t!” Remus objected. “The Ministry has no say over the day to day operations of Hogwarts. They’re free to oversee the tournament, as it’s all been their baby from the start, and Hogwarts’ inclusion as one of the schools involved is merely incidental. Our classes, our activities and our students are our business on a day to day basis.”

The other teachers nodded or voiced their support.  
“I’m sure the children will be quite delighted to know that all they need do is sulk for a bit and you’ll all cave in to all their demands.” Dumbledore sighed.

“If any of the children gets such ideas in their heads, they’ll be quickly disabused of the notion, as you well know.” McGonagall huffed. “In fact, I’m sure that’s not what they’ll take away from this whole incident at all. I think, rather, they will feel that their voices have been heard, and that we, their teachers are on their side.”

“Yes, I think so too. In fact, I’m going to go find Miss Abbot right now to tell her to get her puppet brigade rehearsed up, and then I’m going to write a letter to Madame Perks to see when she can get choir practice up and running. With luck, they’ll be able to have a performance on the last night before all the students return home for the holidays.” Sprout agreed.

“I already contacted Lucius; unfortunately, he’ll be out of the country for a few weeks” Snape began.

 _“Oh?”_ Dumbledore asked intently.

“On business, Albus; he does have several business concerns he oversees, and many of them are not here in Britain. He did, however, give me the name of someone he believes can satisfactorily take his place. Sadly, with such a late start in the year, the fencing club taking part in any competitions this year seems out of the question.”

“Then there seems little point reviving the fencing club. It would simply be an unnecessary expense—one which, with the tournament this year, we can ill afford.” Dumbledore interjected, his voice brooking no argument. Snape glowered at him and crossed his arms.

“We should let children know the student fair is back on.” Remus offered. “I don’t know why it was ever cancelled in the first place; it would have taken place after the end of the tournament in any case.”

“The Ministry…”

“Has no say, Albus, and that’s the end of it. I can’t believe I’m going to say this…but I’m looking forward to the students being their rude, rambunctious, noisy selves again.” McGonagall admitted.

 

 

The next morning, when the foreign students came in, and the teachers came down for breakfast, there was a new ‘statue’ in the entryway.

The maimed angel was gone, all that was left was the empty plinth, with broken shackles and chains strewn atop it, as though the chained angel they first had seen had made his escape. The broken paintbrush, puppet, foil, and the torn sheet music from the last statue were also gone.

There was a message inscribed on the plinth.

_“Sometimes in life, all you need is a good ‘reparo’.”_

Underneath was a short history of the non-violent student protest of 1994, when the students of Hogwarts came together to enact social change and won.

 

 

Breakfast that morning was a loud, boisterous affair. The students arrived in groups and singly, talking, shoving, laughing, with their ties askew and their hair ruffled. The banners in the great hall once again displayed their colors proudly.

The entire castle seemed to thrum with life and good cheer, and the students of Hogwarts and the other schools were chattering animatedly to one another, as the odd ‘protest’ had quite effectively broken the ice.

It was, in short, just the way a school should be.


	6. Hogsmeade and Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Hogsmeade weekend of the school year.

That Friday after dinner, it was announced that the Puppet Brigade would be performing an original work—not the children’s stories they usually did. It was actually a piece they had worked on for a while before the foreign delegations had arrived, namely ‘A Brief History of the Tri-Wizard Tournament’. They had put a lot of work into researching tidbits about tournaments past, making the puppets and set pieces, and securing music for a soundtrack, only to be told on Halloween that there would be no performance that night. Needless to say, they were thrilled to have a chance to perform it while it was still relevant.

Up on the dais, where the head table normally sat, a large puppet that looked rather like Dumbledore, but for the straight nose and lack of glasses…not to mention his slightly more subdued color-scheme and the old-fashioned cut of his robes, strode out on to the stage.

_"The history of the Tri-Wizard Tournament is a long one. Why, there are rumors that Merlin himself started it, and in fact created the Goblet of Fire that has been used to open it since time immemorial."_

  
The Merlin puppet held up his wand and posed as though about to do a great feat of magic

  
_The rumors are mistaken. The Goblet of Fire was actually created by an artificer named Gerard Dumont…_

  
The Merlin puppet froze rather comically, then trudged off the stage with an air of dejection.

  
Three sober looking wizards in black made their way across the stage and met a fourth puppet—an elderly man with wild hair, a hunchback, and a distracted air, wearing brown homespun and a rope belt. He tramped up to the three dignified looking wizards.

  
“Yeah? What do you lot want?”

  
“Mister Dumont, we require you to make us an artifact of unrivalled power and prestige with which to choose worthy champions to quest on behalf of their schools!” The most pompous of the three said with a haughty sniff.

  
Dumont scratched his armpit for a bit and then pulled his wand and pointed it at the ground between them. A goblet with blue-bell flames flickering in its depths rose up out of the floor.

  
“There ya go. One flaming goblet. Now get off my land.”

  
_Monsieur Dumont, though undoubtedly a gifted craftsman, was known to be something of an anti-social curmudgeon._

  
Dumont tramped off stage, and the three wizards gathered around the goblet.

  
“With this flaming goblet, we will hold a championship of great prestige and honor, where fearless witches and wizards will battle valiantly for eternal fame and glory!”

  
“And a big wad of cash.”

  
“Yes…fame, glory, and a big wad of cash too.”

  
“Now we need to decide which of our schools gets the honor of hosting this worthy spectacle.”

  
The wizards faced each other and played a fast and furious game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’. Finally, the wizard on the left won.

  
“Yes! Yes! Durmstrang wins! In your face!” he cackled while doing a little dance.

  
_The first tournament’s location was, in fact, decided just this way…and letters from the other two headmasters at the time attest that the then headmaster of Durmstrang did in fact do a victory dance when his school was chosen. Durmstrang Institute of Magic had only just opened its doors a few years prior, and he was eager to get his school recognized as a premier school of magic; especially as his brother was the then-headmaster of Hogwarts. They had developed a fierce and bitter rivalry, as the headmaster of Hogwarts enjoyed needling his brother over the fact that while he was the headmaster of a centuries-old landmark school, he was only headmaster of a new-fangled back woods upstart. It is believed by many that this is the real reason the Tri-wizard tournament was even started…_

 

“Oh man, that was great!” Seamus laughed as they all reached the common room.

  
“I think my favorite part was the two champions who eloped in the middle of the tournament.”

  
_“How can I think of battling monsters when I’m aflame with love for you!”_ Lavender said dramatically.

  
“Yes, it was all very amusing…until they died five minutes later for breaking the magical contract that bound them to the tournament.” Hermione sniffed.

  
“Not to mention their whole families died soon after in a clan-war while feuding over which of their children was responsible for the other being dead.” Neville added.

  
“Yeah, what a bunch, huh? The two in the tournament die from breaking the contract, their parents and siblings all die battling each other, fighting over who was responsible…”  
“And then their extended clans picked up the fight, until one of them got the bright idea to start transfiguring the rival clan into quintapeds…” Dean laughed disbelievingly.

  
“And the quintapeds ate the other clan.” Seamus concluded, still cheery.

  
“Yeah, that was pretty cool, but I think I liked the whole shadow puppet thing they did at the end best, you know, with the cockatrix killing all the headmasters.” Ron snickered.

  
“Really, Ronald! That part was awful! In fact, this whole tournament is barbaric. I don’t know why they ever thought it was a good idea to resurrect it.” Hermione huffed.

  
“Well, it’s not the same, is it? There’s an age limit and all kinds of safety precautions this time around that they didn’t have in the past tournaments.”

  
“Even so. Couldn’t they have just come up with something new if they wanted to have an inter-school competition?”

  
“Ah, come on, Hermione, we haven’t even seen any of the tasks yet. We should at least wait until after the first task before we start criticizing! The first task is in three weeks, at least wait until then before you start complaining.”

 

 

 

After all the excitement of the opening of the tournament, the protest, and the puppet show, life at Hogwarts settled back down to normal. There were classes to attend and homework to do, and the first task wasn't until the end of the month.

  
The days sped by, and before everyone knew it, it was time for the first Hogsmeade visit of the year.

  
Harry lined up with everyone else who was going, after breakfast. Neville was going to be spending the day with Hannah Abbot, and Luna was going to be going with Colin, Megan and some of the other kids from the printing club that were in her year, so Harry was on his own for the moment. At least, he was until Ron, Hermione and Ginny popped up next to him in line.

  
"I'm so excited. It'll be nice to get out of the castle once in a while." Ginny said cheerfully.

  
"Yeah, it is nice. I remember how depressed I was last year when I didn't think I had my permission slip." Harry agreed absently.

  
"So, what do you suggest I see first?" she wondered.

  
"You've got the whole day. I'd suggest you work your way from one end of the village to the other, and take the time to look around. You can either head to the Three Broomsticks when you get hungry, or save it for the end of the day--whatever suits your fancy."

  
"What's your favorite place there?"

  
"I don't know that I have one. I usually visit most of the places there at least once on each visit."

  
The line finally began moving, McGonagall checking off names as the students passed.

  
They could see Fleur Delacour up ahead, with her little sister. Ron straightened up, and started patting at his hair when he spotted her. He even sucked in his gut, though he didn't have a sizeable paunch. Hermione spotted his behavior and made a sound like a stepped on cat before striding ahead towards the carriages. She passed near Viktor Krum as she did so. Harry's eyebrows rose into his hairline when he saw their eyes meet, and Hermione's cheeks develop a definite pink tinge as a result. Ginny obviously caught it as well. She huffed and elbowed Ron as she passed by.

  
"You, brother dear, are an idiot. Stop chasing after that ridiculous French tart already, and try setting your sights on someone _closer_."

  
Ron glared after her as he rubbed his side, before glancing at Harry.

  
"Wonder what the bloody hell she's on about? Girls, huh? They're all mental."

  
Both Ginny and Hermione seemed to have recovered their equanimity by the time Ron and Harry entered the carriage. Ginny chattered up a storm the whole way down. Harry found himself missing quiet, shy Ginny--though he didn't miss how her whole face would turn red and she'd squeak whenever she caught sight of him.

He hoped this meant she was over her fan-girly obsession, though if she was, it then begged the question of why she was still always around...

 

 

The carriage finally pulled in close to Hogsmeade. The four of them alighted and stretched, before wandering into the village proper. Ginny smiled brightly and turned to Harry.

"So, where should we go first?"

  
"I suppose that's up to you three."

  
"Don't be silly, Harry, you get a say in things too."

  
"I'm not staying with you. I'm meeting someone."

  
Ginny's smile vanished rather abruptly, and Ron and Hermione both looked at him like he was mad.

  
"What're you on about, mate? Of course you're staying with us."

  
"I don't recall having ever said anything of the sort."

  
"Who are you meeting?"

  
"A friend of mine."

  
Ginny frowned and crossed her arms. "Oh? And what is this _friend's_ name?"

  
"Tom."

  
Ginny relaxed.

  
"Well, where are you meeting him? We'll come with you." Hermione announced.

  
"Okay, first of all, why would you do that? I'm sure you all have things you'd rather be doing. Second of all, I don't recall inviting any of you, and it's rather rude to just invite yourself. Thirdly, I haven't seen him since before school started up, whereas I see you three _every day, at every meal, in classes and after,_ and we _live in the same house._ And finally, we have stuff to talk about, and we won't be able to do that if you three are there chattering at him nonstop." Harry snorted, before heading off and disappearing into the crowd.

  
Ginny glowered rather glumly at Harry's retreating back. Her first Hogsmeade weekend wasn't going at all like she had imagined it would.

  
Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. "Well really! How rude!"

  
"What? He's got a point. He does see us every day. I don't know why he can't just keep to his friends here, but it's not a big deal, right? Come on, let's go to Honeyduke's. I want to go to refill my candy stash."

  
"Fine, but only if we go to the bookstore next." Hermione insisted.

  
"Bloody hell woman! Don't you get enough books from the library? Every damn time we come down here you always want to go there and you take forever!"  
Ginny heaved a put upon sigh and trailed after the bickering duo, kicking loose stones out of her path, and feeling sorry for herself.

 

 

 

"Harry."

  
Harry turned to face the boy that had just popped up next to him, and felt a smile well up out of himself.

  
"Tom. Good to see you."

  
Tom's answering smile made his stomach do one of the odd flips it seemed prone to when in the other boy's presence. They fell into step with one another and began idly wandering through the village.

  
"So, where to? Three Broomsticks or the Hogshead?"

  
"Three Broomsticks is usually pretty crowded during Hogsmeade weekends. The proprietor of the Hogshead is Dumbledore's brother, so no thank you."

  
"There isn't really anywhere else, unless you want to just browse the stores or head to the shrieking shack."

  
"Well…we could go to Madame Puddifoot's, I suppose."

  
"Madame Puddifoot's?"

  
"It's a twee little tea shop, it sells pastries, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. The décor isn't much to my liking, but she's got good food and service, and the place tends to be both quiet and not too crowded. It seems to be the date place of choice for the Hogsmeade crowd, though couples aren't the only people that go there. It has the added bonus of being someplace I've never seen Ron or Hermione, which means no Ginny as well."

  
"Who?"

  
Harry explained who they all were, and about the trio inviting themselves along for their meeting.

  
"Can't bear to let you out of their sight, huh?"

  
"Seems that way."

  
"Alright. Madame Puddifoot's it is."

 

 

Madame Puddifoot's tea shop wasn't on the main street of Hogsmeade the way the rest of the usual haunts of the Hogsmeade crowd were. It was tucked away on a quiet street off the main thoroughfare. The windows were steamed up somewhat as they passed, allowing them to only see the silhouettes of the people ensconced within. A cheerfully tinkling bell sounded when they opened the door. Tom took a quick glance around the room, his gaze taking in the delicate tables and chairs, the china sugar bowls with their overdone flower patterns, the chandeliers and wall sconces with their pink glass shaped like flowers, the frilly white table cloths and curtains, the numerous couples staring intently into one another's eyes, or snogging like their lives depended on it. While he was taking in the sights, Madame Puddifoot herself bustled out and directed them towards an open table near the back. She was a stout woman with a shiny black bun, and her clothing was as frilly and delicate as the decorations. Tom raised an eyebrow at Harry who just shrugged in response.

  
They were soon settled with a pot of tea and a small selection of pastries for two--a house specialty. Harry poured for them both, and they spent a few moments fixing their tea to their liking.

  
"So, what's new at Hogwarts? Anything interesting?"

  
Harry grinned and regaled him with the story of the 'non-violent student protest of 1994' and soon had Tom snickering in delight. From there, talk easily flowed to the recent equinox and the meetings that were currently going on in the next areas that would be gathered at the winter solstice.

  
"I suppose it's just as well I'm stuck here for the holidays this year since Sirius and Adeline and all the rest won't even be in the country."

  
"Why are you stuck here?"

  
"There's a Yule Ball coming up. It's part of the traditions of the tournament. They revived that along with the tournament itself. Fourth years and above are expected to attend."

  
Tom's hands tightened slightly on his tea cup.

  
"I'm guessing you'll need a date. Who will the lucky lady be?"

  
"Haven't the foggiest. They haven't announced the ball yet, so I'm not going to worry about it until then. I'm kind of hoping the others in my year will go with my idea of just putting either all the boys' or all the girls' names in a hat and letting the other group just pick one at random. It seems like a simple solution, and one that isn't likely to lead to misunderstandings about intentions and whatnot."

  
"I think that sounds like a marvelous idea. You should definitely do that."

  
"I'm sure most of the guys will go for it; I have a feeling most of the girls won't be so easy to convince, mostly because they'll probably get all excited about it being some big, romantic to-do that will lead to true love for all involved. That's not even the worst problem for me. The last girl I was involved with ended up in the gossip magazines in photos with me and she got hate mail from tiny obsessive stalkers. After seeing what happened to Cho, I think most girls are going to be rather hesitant to be seen with me in public as my date, even platonically. Any girl willing to risk it anyway is probably an obsessive stalker, and therefore not someone I'm likely to want to be with anyway."

  
"Can't you just go stag then? Just avoid the whole thing?"

  
"As far as I know, everyone is required to have a date. It's all very troublesome."

  
"I've been having similar difficulties myself."

  
"Oh? How so?"

  
"It's rather frustrating, really. Before, when I let it be known I didn't dance and wasn't looking to get married, everyone just accepted that. Now, they get pushy about it. Lucius, damn him, seems to think it's funny. I spend half of the meetings anymore fending off teenage witches. Your godfather is no help. He seems to be playing matchmaker, or trying to."

  
Harry's tea cup cracked in his hand, making them both jump. Harry looked down at the cracked cup blankly before pulling his wand to do a quick 'reparo' on it.

  
"Wow. I guess I don't know my own grip." He laughed nervously.

  
Tom peered at him through his eyelashes for a moment and then a small, pleased smile creased his lips.

  
"It's delicate china. I wouldn't worry about it." he assured him.

  
Harry hit the tea pot with a heating charm and poured out more tea for them both.

  
"So, um, other than fending off teenage witches, how have things been going?"

  
"Very well, really. I'm sure you're aware of the communities we captured on the equinox. We're right on schedule. We'll all be heading out soon towards Asia and Australia for the next leg of things."

  
"I wish I could be along for all this. I've never been out of the country, and I'll never have the chance to see any of the rest of the world while we're still here."

  
"I can show you some of my memories someday if you'd like."

  
"It's nice of you to offer, but it's not quite the same." Harry sighed.

  
"Oh! I almost forgot. I was contacted by some people who are going to be helping facilitate things for us. They offered to open a gateway to the new world for us to help our move on the next summer solstice. They have a thing they call the “key” that’s apparently an old one that can open doors to any and all dimensions. It should make the transition easier on us. I managed to get a scan of the thing while talking to them. They’re also going to be working with the goblins and helping them untangle from the muggle world.”

  
“Okaaay… Who are these people and why are they being so helpful?”

  
"Well…they're…and I realize how strange this is going to sound…they're an inter-dimensional demon-owned law firm. They're going to essentially take the goblins’ place in things when we leave. I know you were concerned that we might be leaving behind a big mess for the muggles when we were gone. With their help that shouldn’t be a problem.”

  
“That’s nice. _Demons?!_ ” Harry said pointedly.

  
“They assured me they're demon in the original Greek sense of the word, not the Judeo Christian, although some of the entities that they deal with would probably qualify. The way they explained it, there were once really massive demons that were on the level of Lovecraftian horrors--immense, could bestride galaxies—old ones. That key I mentioned was one of them once, but all that’s left of the entity now is its power. With the coming of humans, for some reason, the world became rather inhospitable to them, and they left or went to sleep or something. The ones that were left were 'small' demons, who took advantage of the disappearance of the old ones to move in and seize power of a sort for themselves. They set up offices and outposts in several different dimensions, often law firms because it's a helpful cover when dealing with human societies. They provide various services for the little demons that pepper each of the dimensions, help hide them from human notice when necessary, and mostly work to keep the status quo as they've found it's what works best for all involved. Essentially, they're just going to move in when we leave and plug themselves into place where the goblins and the ministry were and pick up where we left off, providing cover and services for supernatural beings that aren't part of our magical community in this world."

  
"Oh. That's…good, I guess. It's also a nice reassurance that we're not just imagining things and we really will be leaving come summer. That would have been rather a mess, wouldn't it?"

  
"Yes, rather."

  
"So, what are these people called?"

  
"Wolfram and Hart."

  
"Huh. Well, one less worry I guess. Oh, I'd best give you the lists we've compiled if you're going to be heading out soon."

  
"Lists?"

  
"We're still getting calls from people with concerns about different things."

  
"Still?" Tom sighed before reaching to take the lists and flip through them.

  
"What is a crumple-horned snorkack and why is anyone concerned it won't be coming with us?"

  
"Mr. Lovegood, editor of the Quibbler…there have been reported sightings of the thing, and drawings in several old sources, though it was never given a name until the Lovegoods dubbed it the 'crumple-horned snorkack". They search for the thing and the quest to get a picture of it is a recurring article in the Quibbler. I think Mr. Lovegood was just worried it was going to remain an unsolved mystery."

  
"It says seventeen people asked this particular question."

  
"I'm guessing they're all readers of the Quibbler."

  
"What did you tell them?"

  
"If it's magical it's coming with us."

  
"Fair enough."

  
"Say…you're going to be in Japan, correct?"

  
"I'll be travelling all over, but my last stop is Japan. Why?"

  
"Do you think you could do me a little favor while you're there?"

  
"I suppose that depends on the favor."

  
Harry dug around in his pouch for a bit and withdrew another list, which he handed over.

  
"What are tatami mats and why do you need so many of them?"

  
"They're floor coverings. They're made of woven reeds or something, covered in fabric. I need them for my summer house."

  
"Summer house?"

  
"Well…it's not built yet. It won't be until we get to the new world. I have my parents' house, I also inherited the Lestrange place and um…the Riddle house. I told you that I let Barty and Nymphadora take your father's house" he smiled apologetically at Tom's displeased grimace. "It was practically in ruins from being empty for so long. A bunch of us helped them fix it up and they've been living there since they got married. No worries though; you're not homeless." he was quick to reassure him. He dug around some more and pulled out a scroll which he handed over.

  
"What's this?"

  
"It's the keys, master wardstone and deed to the Crouch place." Harry explained as Tom unrolled the scroll and stared at the row of seals inscribed across its length. "Barty gave them to me in exchange for the Riddle place. He has too many bad memories of the place. All the salvaged furniture that they didn't use in the Riddle place is there, along with whatever they didn't take with them, so it's got furniture. I'm not sure if you can furnish the whole place with what's there, but you should be able to furnish at least half of it at the very least. It's a nice house, actually. I figure it's yours now, since I um, gave away your father's house and all."

  
"I see." Tom answered, before re-rolling the scroll and tucking it away. He made no further comment, so Harry wasn't sure how he felt about it all.

  
"Um, yeah…anyway…I have my parent's house, which will eventually be my primary residence, once I'm of age and all. Lestrange castle is going to be corporate headquarters. It's got room for meetings, offices, department workshops and housing for employees and interns--quite a few at least. There's already a whole slew of house elves there. I want a vacation place. I can already picture it. You know we were planning on taking over one of the islands off the peninsula to be corporate headquarters and also building a resort there? I'm going to build my vacation house there too. I even have the perfect spot picked out. I was thinking of calling it Marauder's Cove. It's beautiful there, and I'll have space to have a boat…well, a ship, really. Neville, Luna and I were thinking of building a Viking longship. Anyway, I need the tatami mats for the house when it's finished."

  
"Why do you need reed mats for your vacation house?"

  
"Well, it's going to be a traditional Japanese style house. It should be beautiful when it's finished. You, um, want to see some pictures?"

  
"You have pictures?"

  
"Well, yeah, I've been planning it out ever since we did that house building contest. I've even laid in supplies to build the place so I don't need to decimate the island to get building materials. I'll need to get some, I'm sure, but I have enough to cover some of it at least. Itsy really has been invaluable."

  
"Yes, I'd like to see this place."  
Harry smiled excitedly and dug out a sketchbook.

 

 

Ron, Hermione and Ginny wandered towards the bookstore. Ron was laden down with a large bag of sweets which he seemed to be doing his best to demolish before they even left the village. Ginny was still glum and sighing a lot. Hermione took the lead, irritated with their slow pace, only to slow as they got near the store.

  
"Why are there so many people here? Is there a sale?"

  
"Ah, it's too busy. We should forget it." Ron mumbled around a mouthful of chocolate frogs.

  
"Surely you're not going to leave without taking a look at my book?" An angry voice nearby demanded.

  
The trio turned to look and found Padma Patil standing on the edge of the crowd with her arms crossed and tapping her foot.

  
"Your book? What book?"

  
"I wrote a book. It just came out. I couldn't let my Gryffindor twin sister be the only published author in the family. I did it all on my own, and what's more, it's going to be a trilogy. It's much more impressive than a cartoon book written by eight people. You don’t need to mention I said that."

  
"You wrote a book and it's been published. There are more on the way." Hermione repeated numbly.

  
"Yep." Padma giggled. "I've got a contract and everything. Even if it only sells half as well as the pirate book all of you did, I'll make a lot more money since there's only me, especially with two more books still to come. If it's a best seller I could make a fortune!"

  
Hermione looked for a moment like she'd just swallowed something unpleasant. She managed to muster up a smile, albeit a sickly looking one.

  
"How…wonderful for you, Padma. You must be so pleased. I'm just going to…go now."

  
Hermione pushed her way through the crowd to head into the bookstore, while her mind raced. First Neville and Harry skip a whole year of ancient runes and arithimancy, then Harry wrote the introduction to a scholarly work on dark magic, now Padma bloody Patil was writing novels and getting rich! It was maddening! She was the cleverest witch of her generation, everyone said so…so how were all these less gifted people surpassing her and leaving her in their dust?

  
She stopped and glowered at the display set up in view of the door, which had a crowd of giggling school girls gathered around it. It looked like a stupid book. There was a black cover, with a pair of very pale hands holding a head of lettuce, with the title NIGHTFALL emblazoned below it.

  
"What's with the lettuce?" she muttered beneath her breath.

  
"Remember Lockhart's book, Voyages with Vampires?" Padma asked from behind her. Apparently she and the others had followed her into the store.

  
"Where he claimed to have cured a vampire of his dependence on blood and got him to eat only lettuce?"

  
"The premise of the story is a girl falling in love with a vampire and trying to help him get over his need to bite her so they can be together."

  
"It was all lies though!"

  
"No, it was true, it just wasn't done by Lockhart. It's a perfectly acceptable plot." Padma argued.

  
"Why would she want to be with a vampire anyway?"

  
"Well, they're soulmates, aren't they? Their love is transcendent!"

  
"Soulmates? Now you're just talking nonsense! Vampires are undead, they don't have souls! Isn't that right, Ron?"

  
"Who are you to say they don't have souls? That's speciest!"

  
"Speciest? Is that even a word? So much for the vaunted intellect of Ravenclaws." Hermione answered with absent scorn while she searched the nearby area for Ron who hadn't been nearby when she'd called on him for support.

  
"Oh, I see. Feeling inadequate are we? You can try to brag on your intelligence all you like, but we know the truth, don't we? You couldn't cut it and were put in Gryffindor instead."

  
"That's an outright lie! I wanted to be in Gryffindor."

  
"You keep telling yourself that. I know better."

  
Hermione huffed at her and then turned away with a sniff to look for Ron. She spotted some red hair near the front of the store and pushed through the crowd, but it was only Ginny, on her way back from the counter, after having purchased a copy of Nightfall.

  
"Surely you're not going to read that ridiculous book?" Hermione demanded.

  
"They're soulmates with transcendent love, of course I am!" Ginny scoffed in return.

  
Hermione rolled her eyes, and briefly wondered why she was always surrounded by idiots. "Where's Ron?"

  
"I dunno. I thought he was with you."

  
"I haven't seen him anywhere. He's disappeared!"

  
"You're looking for Ron? He left while you were arguing with Padma." Seamus told her helpfully from his spot nearby.

  
"Left? Why would he leave?"

  
"He figured you were busy. He's got some new jokes to impress Madame Rosmerta." he explained, while waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

  
Hermione blanched and gasped in dismay. Madame Rosmerta was the proprietress of the Three Broomsticks. She was blonde, curvy and had a penchant for wearing low cut blouses and sparkly high heeled shoes. Ron, like pretty much every boy at Hogwarts, liked going to the Three Broomsticks mostly so he could ogle her, and peer down the front of her blouse.

  
"I…I don't believe him!" Hermione snarled. "Bad enough he's chasing after that French tart every other minute, now he's ditching me to go ogle Rosmerta as well?"

  
"Oh, forget him for the moment. He's an idiot. You can make him pay when we get back to the castle later. Don't let it ruin Hogsmeade weekend. I have a better idea." Ginny told her airily.

  
Hermione eyed her for a moment and then sighed. "Let me guess. You want to go find Harry and spy on him."

  
"Well don't you think it's weird? Who is this friend of his that he doesn't want anyone meeting him? If it is a him. What if it's an older woman using her wiles to ensnare Harry? We have to go save him!" Ginny concluded, as she suddenly imagined a slinky Rosmerta lookalike draped all over Harry and whispering in his ear.

  
Hermione really wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks and smack Ron about the head and ears for being an idiot, but she was just as curious about Harry's mysterious friend as Ginny was. Why was he hiding him? Yeah, he said they had a lot to talk about, but that's no reason to keep them from even meeting the fellow.

  
"Alright, let's find Harry and his mysterious friend. Once we've gotten a peek at him we're going to get Ron so I can try beating some sense into him."

 

 

 

"Remus, Charity. Good to see you again."

  
"Adeline! Look at you! You look positively radiant." Charity gushed.

  
"Motherhood seems to agree with you." Remus concurred as they followed her into the parlor.

  
Adeline chuckled and settled herself on a chair, smiling at Sirius when he propped a pillow behind her back.

  
She patted her protruding stomach fondly. "I don't know about radiant. I mostly feel awkward and bloated."

  
"How was India?"

  
"Beautiful. It's a shame we're all leaving, in a way. There's so much in this world that none of us have gotten a chance to see."

  
Remus and Charity exchanged a look.

  
"So…this move…"

  
Sirius and Adeline just looked at them, taking in the slightly condescending shape of Charity's smile and the stiff set of Remus' shoulders.

  
"Tell me you're not both going to say you don't believe it's happening."

  
"Well, you have to admit it's all rather crazy, isn't it? Harry is still a child. I can't quite get why all of you seem so willing to just believe his wild stories." Charity sniffed.

  
"He showed us memories of the other world. He's been there."

  
"One person going to another world is hard enough to believe. The entire wizarding world is something altogether different. We don't have any real reason to believe the memories Harry showed us are real. He could have taken something and had an extended hallucination."

  
"It's real, and it's happening. Have either of you been in the muggle world since this process began?" Sirius wondered.

  
"Well, no, not until coming here. We've both been at Hogwarts." Remus replied, mystified.

  
"Coming here doesn't count. All the houses on this block are now filled with witches and wizards. We put in a gateway like the one on King's Cross on either side of the street leading through here. Muggle traffic just bypasses us now. We're in our own little pocket here. Maybe you should take a little walk into the muggle world so you'll understand what's happening."

  
"More pureblood supremacist propaganda? This is where you try to convince us that the muggles are a problem and need to be dealt with, correct?" Charity sniffed.

  
Sirius smiled, and it wasn't friendly.

  
"Hey Moony, why don't you and Miss Burbage here take a little walk. Trust me on this, I think it's important that you see for yourself. When you come back, we'll talk."

  
"Take a walk where?"

  
"Out of the neighborhood here. I'd take a tour of the vicinity of Diagon Alley, St. Mungo's and the Ministry too while you're at it, and take a good look around."

  
"Sirius, what..?"

  
"No, I don't want to influence your reaction in any way. Just head outside and go take a look around and then come back. Trust me. We'll hold lunch till you get back."

  
Remus and Charity stood uncertainly, and truthfully, both were a bit peeved that they were being shown the door so soon after arriving. They got their cloaks--a muggle coat in Charity's case-- from the hooks by the door and left, still casting reproving glances over their shoulders at Sirius and Adeline who had followed and stood watching them impassively.

  
When the door shut behind them, Sirius sighed.

  
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Adeline wondered.

  
"I think the shock of it all might be just what they need."

  
"We should have prepared them."

  
"No, I think it's better this way. You heard her, claiming we were pureblood supremacists. If we'd tried to tell them, she would have dismissed everything we said out of hand."

 

 

 

Remus and Charity lingered for a bit on the doorstep of no. 12, still feeling a bit put out. Remus took a moment to take in the changes to the neighborhood since Sirius had taken over and was rather amazed by how different it was. Where once was a depressed area filled with brownstone semi-detached Georgian style terraced houses, there was now a wizarding neighborhood.

The wizards that had moved in had put their own mark on the houses they'd taken over. They had detached the houses from their neighbors for one thing, and each now had a small plot of land around it--just enough for a modest alley between homes and a small backyard, but it was a major change nonetheless. The second change was that not a single one of the houses was still brown. The houses were now in every color of the rainbow, some had expanded the terraces and made outdoor patios overflowing with plants, others had rooftop gardens. The windows were now in all shapes and sizes, and had been rearranged to suit the new residents. A few had added extra rooms that stuck off the sides of the buildings willy-nilly, and seemed to be held there by magic alone. Where once there had been paved street and concrete sidewalks, there was now grass with decorative flagstones providing a walkway.

The electric lights had been replaced by large hanging lanterns. The basement level of the different buildings now held shops. Each was accessible from the street by a set of stone stairs leading downward, and had a large picture window that could be seen from street level advertising their wares. The grassy space that was once the street was filled with young witches and wizards too young for Hogwarts, all of them dressed in robes, and playing with obviously magical toys.

  
"What are their parents thinking? Has everyone taken complete leave of their senses? Does no one care about secrecy anymore?" Charity huffed, indignant. "I think maybe we should go to the Ministry and report the lot of them. I don't know why anyone even bothers buying robes nowadays. Everyone needs to get with modern times already." she added, while smoothing out her own muggle dress and coat. "The same goes for the toys. Parents shouldn't be buying things like brooms for their children. Of course the little dears are going to want to play with them, they don't know any better. It's their parents job to remove the temptation. They should get them bicycles, or skateboards, not _brooms._ "

  
"Don't you think that's a bit extreme? We're witches and wizards, not muggles. You can't fault people for wanting to be what they are."

  
"Hmph. That's just backwards thinking. The world is changing. We need to bring our society out of the dark ages and into the modern world."

  
"Even if it means losing ourselves in the process?"

  
"Oh, listen to you. Losing ourselves indeed! Different isn't bad. We'd still be the same people, just wearing modern clothing and driving cars. Really, _losing ourselves._ " Charity scoffed before heading off briskly down the street towards the edge of the neighborhood.

Remus scrambled to catch up to her, and then sighed to himself once he did. He could see, just by looking at her, that she intended to make good on her threat to report the whole neighborhood for secrecy violations. This quaint little neighborhood would probably be quickly reverted to its former look, and everyone would be forced to wear muggle clothes, if the Ministry had its way. The shops would probably all be fined and run out of business. He'd say something, but he knew full well it wouldn't do any good. There was no stopping her when she got like this. Oh well, it was probably for the best. People needed to accept how things were nowadays, and Sirius hadn't been doing them any favors by encouraging such behavior.

  
They left the new wizarding neighborhood at Grimmauld Place behind, and the houses were once again plain, muggle edifices, and the streets filled with muggles.

Remus didn't notice it right at first, but the further away from Grimmauld Place he got, the more wrong it felt. The organic smells of the wizarding neighborhood they'd just left were replaced by chemical scents--petrol and exhaust fumes mostly, but there were other scents in there as well, all of them man made and overwhelming. Remus could feel his nose and throat becoming irritated and his eyes burning. It was very strange; he'd walked muggle streets a thousand times and had never reacted to the smell of the place like this before.

They walked a bit further, and the rigid symmetry of the surrounding buildings, each of them the same, lined up with mechanic precision, one after another began to press in on them. It seemed alien…was alien when one considered the wizarding neighborhood they'd just left with its organized chaos and color. There was no color on the muggle side of the neighborhood beyond greys, browns, tans and black, weather worn and stained into a dreary drab sameness. They reached the end of the block where it turned onto the main road, and he realized he could no longer feel the magical presence of Grimmauld Place at his back; he hadn't been aware he still could feel the magic, however faintly, till he no longer could.

  
They walked a little further and he found himself faltering as the alien feel of the muggle world seemed to crash in on him all at once. The blood slowly drained from Remus' face, and he flinched as the cacaphony of motors and blaring horns and muggle music echoing around the streets, and the babbling voices, ringing telephones all seemed to grow louder and more overwhelming. Muggles hurried to and fro, all of them walking very fast, checking the time, and huffing impatiently. None spared them so much as a glance, except to grumble under their breaths at them for being in the way. Remus instinctively drew closer to Charity, the only other magical person in the area as the crowd pressed in on them.

They had no magic, these muggles, none at all. He had always known this, but for the first time he could feel the absence and it made his skin crawl. There was no magic to be found anywhere, and it made the whole landscape and everything in it seem terrifyingly alien and frightening. The smell of chemicals laden over everything was dizzying, and the smoggy air was hard to breathe.

  
Remus tugged at Charity's hand and they got moving again. He found himself walking faster and faster and tugging at Charity to make her move faster as well. She started fighting his pull as they went from a fast walk to a trot.

"What…Remus…let go of me! What has gotten into you?"

  
"I don't want to be out here among muggles longer than I have to be!"

  
Charity yanked her hand out of his grasp and stopped, crossing her arms and pressing her lips together into a thin, displeased line. Remus faltered to a halt, and tried to muster up the patience to deal with her when every molecule in his body was screaming at him to find magic and get away from this horrid, alien, chemical laden place.

  
"You're one of them too! I don't believe you! You're a half-blood! Why, you're no better than the Jews that sided with Hitler!"

  
"Charity, what are you talking about?"

  
"You don't want to be in the presence of muggles longer than you have to? You're no better than the death eaters!"

  
He struggled to maintain his composure, when really, he wanted to flee--to Diagon Alley, to Grimmauld Place, to Hogwarts--it hardly mattered, so long as it was magical….no pollution would be nice as well. He'd never understood why Harry was always going on about pollution, and he'd mostly put it down to him being a morose teenager. He was very quickly reassessing his stance on the matter. He was feeling ill, and his eyes were burning worse and worse the longer he was out here.

  
"Can't…can't you feel it? How wrong everything is?"

  
"Wrong? I think it's marvelous!"

  
"Marvelous?" Remus repeated numbly. Marvelous was far from how he would describe their surroundings.

  
"Orderly. Logical. Built upon sound scientific principles!" Charity agreed, as her chin jutted and her eyes grew flinty as though daring him to disagree. "Look at the architecture! None of the ridiculous mess we just left, with houses careening haphazardly every which way. Muggles understand engineering and know how to build a proper edifice. The same with the cars, and motorcycles and the buses. All of them built with scientific knowledge built upon generation by generation. Electric lights! Far superior to candlelight, you must admit, not that wizards seem to appreciate the tremendous strides they've made. Wizards are content to live in the dark ages. I went into muggle studies hoping to help drag the witches and wizards of the world out of their complacency and into the modern age, not that any of them seem to appreciate my efforts. You have no idea how upsetting I find your friend Black's efforts to undo the hard work of myself and other like-minded individuals. We were making progress! Witches and wizards were marrying muggles in record numbers, moving into muggle areas and learning to blend, and now look what's happened! Your friend turned a perfectly good muggle neighborhood into something out of a children's tale! You saw them all, with their ridiculous houses and their robes and their brooms! They probably tore out the electric lighting and are using candles, and suspending cauldrons over open flames when a decent pot and an electric stove could do the job just as well! It sickens me! Wizards are so backwards! They haven't an ounce of sense or logic, and they're utterly determined to be contrary!"

  
"Charity…you're a witch."

  
"I'm _Muggleborn._ "

  
"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

  
"I'm the best of both worlds. I believe we're the next step in evolution. Muggleborn like myself have the sense and logic pureblood wizards lack, and we have magic. We're the wave of the future. Sadly, it seems even halfbloods like yourself and that Potter boy have too much magical heritage. Look at you, twitching and flinching for nothing more than being on a normal street among normal people. It's utterly ridiculous. Personally, I find it a great relief to be somewhere that things make sense…not like Hogwarts with its moving stairs and walls that pretend to be doors and vice versa."

  
"You like this? You honestly think this is what we should strive for, as opposed to Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, or even Grimmauld Place? This is the world you'd have us be a part of?"

  
"You say it like it’s a bad thing." Charity huffed, her eyes flashing. "You probably think your friend's fairytale neighborhood is the sort of place we should all be living in." she added with scorn.

  
"Magic is leaving this world." Remus said with absolute certainty.

  
"This again? I though we agreed Harry Potter is a child with delusions of grandeur who was probably taking drugs."

  
"I never agreed with that."

  
"So, what…you've decided instead to believe his lies and buy into his muggle hating propaganda? You're obviously not the man I thought you were, Remus Lupin."

  
Remus just gave her an unreadable look, then turned and started walking towards the Leaky Cauldron. He could hear Charity's gasp of outrage behind him, but he couldn’t spare the brain power to worry about it overmuch, he was too disturbed at the moment. He glanced at his probably soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend and found her striding along beside him, arms crossed and pointedly looking away from him. She was waiting for him to apologize, beg forgiveness and agree with her, he knew, but he wasn't sure he could do so, not with how disturbed he still was. That was when he felt it--magic. They were nearing the Leaky Cauldron. It took a far greater effort than it should have to keep walking at a normal pace and not run the last half block or so.

  
They were just a few feet from the Leaky when something strange happened. A street person, and older man, dressed in layers of rags and smelling like he hadn't bathed in months, stumbled through the wall of the Leaky Cauldron right in front of their eyes. A muggle walking through a solid wall was bad enough, but then they heard the sound of running water, and the sudden pungent stench of fresh urine….and then the muggle man walked back out of the wall and continued stumbling down the street. Remus and Charity exchanged a glance, their argument set aside for the moment, and then hurried through the door into the Leaky Cauldron.

  
Remus looked around at the patrons of the inn, but everyone was quietly eating or drinking--no one seemed to have been disturbed by the sudden arrival of a muggle street person in their midst. He made his way to Tom the barkeep.

  
"Good day folks, what kin I get for ye?"

  
"Nothing at the moment, I'm afraid. I wanted to ask you what will probably seem a very odd question?"

  
"You see a muggle walk through the wall outside?"

  
"Yes, how did you know?"

  
"You ain't the first who's come in looking like you do. It's the move. We're not quite in the same space as the muggles no more. All the magic that were in ley lines and nodes all through the region has pulled free of them and wrapped around all the wizarding spaces and the lot of us shifted sorta sideways it seems--leastaways that's what folks is told me. Strange times we're living in, ain't it? Sorta exciting. Can't wait to make the move, meself. Every year goes by, I find myself getting more and more worried about us being found. It'll be nice not having to worry about that anymore. I know the goblins and the hags and so on are real excited--we complain about secrecy sometimes, but it's really hardest on the non-humans. They're the ones who are really curtailed by it. They're looking forward to being able to walk down the street in daylight with no one being able to nay-say it. Can't blame them myself. I'da been chomping at the bit were it me."

  
Charity and Remus just blinked upon hearing Tom's explanation.

  
"The…magic pulling out of the world… Is that why…?"

  
"It feels so danged awful in muggle parts? Aye, that seems to be the common consensus. Lots o' families been breaking up because of it, if I've heard aright. Quite a few witches married to muggles packed up themselves and any young'uns and fled back to our world, often with their husbands hurrying them on their way. It's a dang shame, but what can you do? It's becoming pretty obvious now that all those folks who've been saying for years that us and the muggles aren't the same and shouldn't be mixing had the right of it all along. It was only magic being part of the world that let us ignore a lot of the differences this long. Now that magic is pulling herself loose and getting ready to leave, we don't have that buffer anymore. I feel bad for all the kids that have so suddenly lost parents, the adults their spouses, but what can you do? I suppose the best thing to do is just concentrate on the positives. A lot of families broke up, but just as many have been reunited. It's a pretty rare case when even the most liberal of families is happy when their child decides to run off and marry a muggle rather than finding themselves a nice witch or wizard. Lots of those folks been estranged from their wizarding relatives for years. A good many kiddies is meeting aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents for the first time because of it. I guess it's all in how you look at things."

  
Charity crossed her arms and began looking irritated again.

  
"What on earth are you talking about? First you" she glanced at Remus "start acting ridiculous and moaning about how you want to get away from the muggles, and now you" she turned back to Tom, her lip curling a bit as she did so "are going on and on about how awful it is among them! What is going on? Why are families breaking up? It doesn't make any sense!"

  
"Don't make no…? Cor blimey, woman! You was just out there! You shouldn't need me to tell you what it's like!" Tom sputtered.

  
"She thinks the logic and science of it all is marvelous." Remus admitted quietly.

  
"Marvelous?" Tom repeated blankly as his eyes bugged out slightly. "Marvelous" he repeated, sounding truly bewildered. "Blimey."

  
Charity was bristling now, looking offended. Remus knew he needed to head her off before she started. There was much he found admirable about her, but her tendency to nag people into submission until they agreed she was right and they were wrong, wrong, wrong, wasn't one of them. It was easier to just agree with her. He had a feeling Tom wouldn't, and she wouldn't leave until he did so unless he drug her out by main force.

  
"We should head back. I'm sure Sirius and Adeline are wondering where we are!" Remus spoke up desperately.

Charity's eyes narrowed in displeasure. He ignored the urge to cringe beneath her glower, and hurried towards the floo, dropping a bit of change in the jar before grabbing a bit of powder from the tin. He wasn't going back out into the muggle world if he could help it.

"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place" he called out, all but diving into the green flames when they appeared. Charity huffed again and stalked after him, already planning to give him a piece of her mind about his muggle-hating ways, not to mention not backing her up and telling off the odious barman who seemed to be of a similar mindset. It was rather disheartening. She thought she and other modern-minded people had made more of an inroads into banishing the backwards, medieval mindsets of wizards in Britain. By the sound of it, all the paranoia, racism and bigotry was just making a resurgence. It was more than a bit depressing. Maybe she should just throw in the towel and let the wizards stew in their own pettiness and destroy themselves. She could find a nice job in the muggle sector--modern conveniences, no doors pretending they were walls, bright electric lights, and she could use her car rather than having to walk or floo everywhere… It was sounding better and better. She grabbed a pinch of powder and tossed it on the flames, and followed Remus back to Sirius' house.

 

 

 

 

"Damn it all! Where the hell is he? We've been everywhere in town!"

  
"He must have left! That's against the rules! Oh, I can't believe him!"

  
"Hey, Hermione, Ginny. Um, is there some reason you've been creeping around the village peeking into windows?"

  
"Oh, Neville. Hello."

  
"We're looking for Harry. He seems to have left the village. Oh, he's going to be in so much trouble!"

  
"He didn't leave the village." Hannah Abbot, who was there with him answered.

  
"Yes he has! We've looked everywhere!"

  
"He's in Madame Puddifoots. We were just there. Why are you looking for him?"

  
"Madame Puddifoots?" Ginny asked.

  
"It's a tea shop. It's kind of frilly for my taste, but it seems to be the date place of choice for the girls of Hogwarts." Neville sighed, wincing a bit when Hannah elbowed him in the ribs.

  
"You told me it was fine!"

  
Ginny gasped and her face began going dangerously red. "So he is with some older woman using her wiles to ensnare him? That bastard!"

  
"Ginny!" Hermione scolded, before looking irked herself. "I don’t believe him, creeping around with some older woman!"

  
"He's there with a guy. He's really good looking." Hannah confided with a giggle, ignoring Neville's offended glance in her direction. "I think he's taken though. They were sitting with the French tart and her sister."

  
"He snuck off to date that hussy?" Ginny squawked.

  
"Who? Tom?"

  
"Huh?"

  
"That's Harry's friend's name. It's odd, but he looks really familiar for some reason." Neville explained. "He's seems to be the same age as Fleur. I kind of assumed he was there with her, not Harry. Harry seemed to be mostly chatting with her sister, though he was talking to Fleur too. The four of them seemed to be getting on pretty well."

  
"So the little tart is trying to steal Harry? She's got some nerve. She's like, six!"

  
"Apparently she's thirteen." Hannah disagreed "But yeah, she looks a lot younger. Frankly, it'd be kind of weird, Harry dating her."

  
"THEY'RE DATING!" Ginny shrieked.

  
"They're not dating." Neville interjected, casting a reproving glance Hannah's way. "I think it's just a friendly get together. Neither one of them seem bothered by Fleur's veela allure. I think she was just enjoying the chance to hang out and talk to people without getting glared at or drooled on, and we already know Gabrielle is a fan of our book. That's probably what she was talking to Harry about."

  
"Psh. A fan girl. I can't believe Harry would actually fall for that."

  
"Isn't that what you're hoping for? I mean, how else would you describe yourself?" Hannah wondered. Privately, Hermione and Neville agreed, though neither said so out loud after seeing the fierce glare Ginny leveled on Hannah.

  
"So, where is this Madame Puddifoot's?"

  
"Just down the road there. Turn left at the corner and go down to the end of the block. You can't miss it."

  
"Not so fast." Neville halted them when they made to move off. "Why are you looking for Harry anyway? If you're just going to cause a problem or make a scene…"

  
"I don't see how that's any of your business." Ginny sniffed before stalking off. Hermione just shrugged apologetically and hurried after her.

 

 

"The windows are all fogged up. I guess we'll have to go inside."

  
"Let's go then."

  
Ginny marched into Madame Puddifoots and glared across the room, her eyes landing at last on the silvery blonde heads of Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour. They were alone at the table. Ginny hurried over to them, and gave them both a dirty look before putting her hands on her hips and demanding "Where's Harry?"

  
"You are a very rude leetle girl." Fleur sniffed in return.

  
"Well?" Ginny urged, tapping her foot impatiently.

  
"If 'e wanted you to know where 'e was going to be, 'e would 'ave told you, non?"

  
"We're sorry to interrupt you" Hermione added stiffly, "but we really need to find him. We expected him to still be here."

  
"At least you 'ave some manners." Fleur decided. "For zhat I will tell you. 'arry and 'is friend left a short time ago. 'arry needs to replenish zome of 'is supplies. Now do go away. My seester and I would like to finish our tea in peace."

  
"I see. Thank you for your help." Hermione replied, tugging Ginny with her.

 

 

They headed back towards Main Street, Ginny grumbling about Fleur the whole way. "She's got some nerve, trying to hide information about Harry from me of all people!"

  
"Why you of all people?"

  
"I'm his soul mate." Ginny state very matter of factly.

  
"Excuse me?"  
"What?"  
"Soul mate. Honestly. You sound like Padma."

  
"I've always known we were meant to be together, ever since I was a little girl. Everyone knows it's just a matter of time."

  
"Who's everyone?"

  
"Everyone. Professor Lupin, Professor McGonagall, the Headmaster, mum. They told me to be patient, and I am…I don't intend to let him get lured away by some French tart in the meantime though just because I'm being patient."

  
"Ginny…did you ever consider, I don't know…focusing on your studies, or um, trying to find another boy instead of obsessing about Harry all the time?"

  
"What, to make him jealous? You think it would work?"

  
Hermione sighed and dropped the subject. It's not like she had much room to talk, considering her difficulties with Ron. At least she wasn't obsessing over the matter.  
They stepped back out onto Main Street and were nearly bowled over by Professor Burbage. She was wearing a muggle dress and coat and looked to be rather upset. She didn't even apologize for nearly trampling them.

  
"Well, honestly! What is it with everyone today?"

  
"Oh, forget her. Let's find Harry."

  
"You know…maybe we should just leave Harry be for the moment. Let's find Ron."

  
"Ron?" Ginny scoffed. "Fine, be that way. Go find my stupid brother. I'll go find Harry."

  
Hermione huffed in annoyance as she was ditched by the second Weasley in as many hours, and stalked towards the Three Broomsticks. She was nearly bowled over by Professor Lupin as she neared the door.

  
"Oh, Miss Granger, excuse me. I was in a bit of a hurry and I wasn't watching where I was going." Lupin apologized.

  
"No harm done. I wish all the professors were as polite as you."

  
"What do you mean?"

  
"Oh, well…I don't mean to spread tales, but Ginny and I were nearly trampled by Professor Burbage. She didn't even stop or say anything to either one of us."

  
Remus winced, and wondered what he'd been thinking, getting involved with someone he worked with. It was going to make life in the castle rather unpleasant for the foreseeable future. Charity hadn't taken any part of their outing to Sirius' house well, and she could nurse a grudge like no one he'd ever known. Wonderful.

  
"Everything alright, Miss Granger? You seem a little out of sorts."

  
"Everything just seems to be going wrong today. Padma Patil is a published author, Ron ditched me to go ogle Madame Rosmerta, Ginny ditched me so she can stalk Harry in peace. She thinks they're soul mates. Honestly. Harry doesn't notice she's in the room more often than not."

  
"Ah. I see. Where is Harry anyway?"

  
"He ditched me as well. Well, not just me--Ginny and Ron were there too. He ran off to meet some friend of his named Tom."

  
"Tom?" Remus asked.

  
Hermione looked at him a bit oddly. Remus struggled to wipe the disapproving look of his face and smile.

  
"Yeeesss…that's what he said. Why? Who is this Tom?"

  
"No one important. I really should be going. It was nice talking to you, Miss Granger."

Hermione stared after the professor as he hurried off, her brow creased in thought. His reaction to the name of Harry's friend had been decidedly odd. He'd looked angry? Definitely disapproving, though he'd tried to hide it for some reason. Was the boy a criminal or something? A thug? Maybe he was in a gang. It wouldn't surprise her. Harry sometimes seemed to fancy himself some sort of mafia kingpin, what with the way he had Crabbe and Goyle following him around, calling him boss. Maybe this Tom was an actual mafioso and Harry was his local muscle? That boy just couldn't stay out of trouble, could he?  
Hermione forgot all about finding Ron as she set off to start peering in windows again.

 

 

 

"I can't believe I'm in a candy store."

  
"So you've said." Harry replied absently as he browsed the selection. "Now hush. I'm trying to replenish my stash."

  
"You keep a stash?"

  
"You mean you didn't when you were in school?"

  
"I didn't usually have any money. Once I did…well, I had other things in mind to spend it on than candy."

  
"I didn't get candy when I was younger either. It's nice being able to. Not only that, but sometimes a bit of sugar is just what you need as a pick me up during the day. I have to hide it of course--we all do. Ron Weasley usually eats all his candy before getting back to the castle and then he just raids everyone else's stash and eats everything. Luckily, he's a rather indifferent student. A locking charm on the bedside drawer is usually enough to foil him. He's never bothered to learn any charms to unlock things."

  
"He's lucky he wasn't sorted into Slytherin. Students there usually put curses on their things to keep unwanted hands away."

  
"Would that be how you got so good at curse-breaking?"

  
"Harry, I'm wounded. What a thing to say."

  
"That's a yes then. You want anything?"

  
"I'm fine, really." Tom replied, though Harry noted his eyes lingered on the chocolate frogs.

  
"I'm just going to grab a few things. I'll be right back."

  
Harry returned a short time later with a bulging sack. He dug out a box of chocolate frogs which he tossed to Tom before stuffing the sack away in his belt pouch. Tom stared blankly at the chocolate in his hands, before slanting a look Harry's way.

  
"This wasn't necessary."

  
"Just eat your chocolate. Come on, I have a few more stops to make."

  
Their next stop was for parchment and ink. They'd been given so much homework since the start of the year, he was swiftly running low. He knew he'd likely be out before the next Hogsmeade visit unless he stocked up now. When he returned from the counter, he found Tom licking chocolate off his fingers with every evidence of enjoyment. He looked rather embarrassed at being caught and straightened self-consciously, while hiding his chocolate stained fingers behind his hands and trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing. Harry felt an affectionate grin well up out of him that he couldn't have stopped if he tried. Tom caught it and rolled his eyes, and then dug out another frog under Harry's grin.

"Shut up." Tom grumbled as they headed out the door.

 

 

They'd only gotten a few steps when Harry's phone rang. Harry sighed, half-expecting it to be another silly person panicking over the upcoming move, but to his surprise, it was Neville.

  
"Hey, Nev. What's up? Uh huh…uh huh. Geez. Where are they now? Where all have they looked? What is wrong with those two? I mean, come on! Is it really so much to ask? A single afternoon without them shoved up my ass? Yeah. Whatever. Thanks for the heads up."

  
Harry huffed out a breath as he stuffed his phone away. Tom eyed him curiously.

  
"Hermione and Ginny are stalking me. They're canvassing the whole village trying to find me. Apparently they've already gone to Madame Puddifoots and ended up bothering the Delacours. How troublesome."

  
"Why are they looking for you?"

  
"Who knows, who cares."

  
"I take it you don't want to be found?"

  
"By them, before Hogsmeade is over? Hell no. I need a break from them, and I can't usually do that while stuck in school. Hermione is in all my classes, Ginny all but climbs in my lap at every meal, and she's usually a half-step away during most of my free time. I can't think when they're around; neither of them ever shuts up, and it's hard to concentrate with both of them chattering in either ear all the damn time."

  
Tom pulled his wand, waved it over them both and then tucked it away.

  
"What did you just do?"  
"Notice-me-not charm."  
"Won't that make finishing my shopping difficult?"  
"Specialized form. It's keyed to the two of them. They'll be the only ones who don't notice us."  
"Very useful. Teach me how to do that."  
"Do you know how to do the regular form?"  
"Yes."  
"Just concentrate on who you want it keyed to while you cast it."  
"Useful and simple. Excellent."

 

  
As they were talking, Hermione walked past them and peeked into the shop they'd just been in and looked around. Ginny, who was checking out a place on the other side of the street further down, saw her and joined her in the middle of the street moments later.

  
"Did you find him?"  
"No. I searched everywhere."  
"So have I! Urgh! Where is he?"

  
The girls heard laughter, following by someone groaning that they were going to be sick, and turned to look. Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Padma and Parvati were stumbling down the street, laughing and holding each other up. They were all obviously quite drunk.

 

"HAVE YOU ALL BEEN DRINKING!" Hermione shrieked "I don't believe you! You're underage!"

  
"Oh shut up you mish…mes…mesherable"

  
"Misheral"

  
"Misheral stick in the mug."

  
There was a beat, and then Seamus burped, spewing fire from his mouth. The five teens started laughing again. Parvati stumbled and sagged, forcing the others to grab her to keep her from falling.

  
"Where were all of you?"

  
"Hogshed."

  
"We were shelabrating."

  
"Celebrating? Celebrating what?"

  
"My book." Padma tittered drunkenly.

  
"Our comic book too. It's been going strong for two years now." Seamus added proudly while slinging an arm over Dean's shoulder.

  
"Yeah. Shelabrating." Lavender squealed.

  
"Harry! Congratulate me!" Padma said expansively. "They sold out the copies of my book they had in the store!"

  
"Harry? Where?"

  
Hermione and Ginny spun in place, scanning the streets anxiously, while the five drunken teens watched them with confused, bleary eyes.  
Harry held a finger to his lips and winked at Padma, then he and Tom simply walked passed the two girls, who never seemed to see them. Harry, unable to help himself, stopped in front of the two girls and danced around a bit, while making faces, until Tom snorted and drug him away. The five drunk teens started laughing again and stumbled along on their way.

 

Hermione watched them go, and crossed her arms, huffing in disgust at the lot of them.

  
"He's not here. They're so drunk they're probably hallucinating or something. They were all in the Hogshead. Did you check there?"  
"No, did you?"  
"No. That must be where he is. It's no wonder we didn't find him."

 

 

 

"Oh sweet Merlin…" Pansy whispered in shock as she grabbed at Draco's arm.

  
"What?"

  
"Look! At the door!" she hissed quietly.

  
"What, it's just Harry."

  
"Look who he's with!"

  
"What's going on?" Millicent whispered as she leaned in.

  
"Harry's here with the dark lord" Draco mouthed the words so no one would overhear.

  
"What? Seriously? Where?" Millicent whispered back in shock.

  
"Quick, while they're not looking. They're at the bar."

  
"Say… Why is he a teenager anyway?"

  
"Yeah, he never did explain that. He's supposed to be old. It's definitely him though. My father wouldn't have lied about that."

  
"Are they on a date or something?" Crabbe wondered.

  
Pansy grinned in shocked delight at the very suggestion. "Let's find out, shall we?" she giggled, before waving her arm to draw their attention.

  
"Harry darling! Over here! We've got room!"

  
"Pansy!" Draco squeaked.

  
"Hush, dear, I'm working here." Pansy chided out the side of her mouth.

  
The two boys turned to look--as did many of the patrons seated nearby.

  
"Pans, if they are on a date, calling Harry darling was probably a bad move. The dark lord is glaring at you."

  
As they watched, the dark lord slanted a glance at Harry and mouthed 'darling?'. Harry waved his hand and answered absently as he turned his steps towards their table.  
Crabbe and Goyle scrounged a couple of empty chairs from nearby tables, while the rest of them scooched around to make room.

  
"Hello all." Harry answered cheerfully as he took one of the free seats, smiling his thanks to Crabbe as he did so. Tom eyed all of them and then sank down regally into his own seat, nodding his thanks to Goyle.

  
Pansy leaned forward, chin on her folded hands and smiled beatifically. "So…what have you boys been up to all day? Taking in the sights?"

  
"You know, the usual."  
"We didn't see you around earlier." she prodded.  
"We were at Madame Puddifoot's earlier."  
"Oh, that's a lovely little place, isn't it? Very cozy."  
"It's sort of grown on me."  
"It was a nice enough little place, though I do wish the décor wasn't quite so frilly." Tom agreed.  
"It's a tea shop. I think it comes with the territory." Harry laughed.

  
The front door banged open and they could all hear Hermione's strident voice berating Ron, who was looking rather worse for wear. He looked decidedly green around the gills, and seemed to have trouble standing upright.

  
"What's with the Weasel?"

  
"He's drunk."

  
"Drunk?!"

  
"Yeah. He ditched Hermione and Ginny earlier at the book shop to come here and flirt with Rosmerta. She wasn't very appreciative of his jokes apparently. He went back after but Ginny and Hermione had already left. Somehow, he, Padma and Parvati, as well as Dean, Seamus and Lavender all ended up in the Hogshead getting soused while celebrating Padma's book and the two year anniversary of Dean and Seamus' comic book." Harry explained. "If I heard aright, Ron ordered the best firewhiskey on the house, figuring one of the others would grab the tab and treat him. However, the others took exception to him inviting them out to celebrate and expecting them to grab the tab, and the bartender agreed that whoever ordered the alcohol pays the bill."

  
"What an idiot." Millicent snorted. "Hey…they're coming this way. Why are they coming this way?"

  
Sure enough, Ron and Hermione, with Ginny trailing along behind them, approached their table. Hermione planted herself behind Tom and Harry's chairs and crossed her arms.

  
"Have any of you seen Harry? We've been all over town and we haven't seen him anywhere!"

  
The five of them blinked at her and then looked at Harry and Tom, who were trying not to laugh.

  
"Haven't seen them." Pansy answered promptly. "You probably just overlooked them."

  
Madame Rosmerta arrived then, with a tray floating along behind her. "Two shepherd's pie, two butterbeers." she said with a smile, as she slid their orders in front of them. Hermione looked at Madame Rosmerta, and then at the (to her) empty chairs, before edging away from the innkeeper with a fixed smile that clearly said she thought she had a few screws loose.  
Madame Rosmerta frowned at her before bustling back towards the bar.

  
"Wow, what a weirdo. You've got great taste, Ron." Ginny said sarcastically.

Ron, meanwhile was staring blearily at Harry and rubbing his eyes, then staring at him some more. He looked around at the Slytherins, who stared back with polite inquiry on their faces, while pointedly not looking at Harry or Tom.

  
"Blimey. I'm never drinking again." he muttered, before following the girls to a free table further back.

 

 

 

"Well, I guess we'll leave you both here. I imagine you'd like to say goodbye to one another. Do you want us to wait for you?" Pansy asked.

"No need. I have my broom on me. If worse comes to worse I can just fly back to the castle." Harry replied.

  
"Alright. Goodbye boys. Mind you, don't keep him too long. We'll all likely barely make curfew as it is. Ta!" Pansy called over her shoulder as she sauntered towards the carriages that were waiting to take students back up the mountain.

  
The remaining four teens waved somewhat awkwardly and hurried after her.

  
Tom turned his feet to head back towards the Hogshead end of town, keeping to a slow walk. Harry fell into step beside him.

  
"So…the day went rather quickly. It didn't really feel like we were here that long." Tom mused.

  
"Well, you know what they say: time flies when you're having fun."

  
"And were you? Having fun, I mean." Tom clarified upon seeing Harry's questioning look.

  
"Yes, I did. Um…did you?"

  
Tom's smile was small but sincere and his eyes warm when he replied. "Yes. Yes, I did." Harry's answering smile was equally warm.

  
They walked for a bit in silence, though it was comfortable silence. After several minutes of walking they passed the Hogshead, and found themselves outside the bounds of the small village. It was quiet out here; the students were heading back to the castle, which was in the other direction. The citizens of Hogsmeade were heading home as the dinner hour approached, and it was already dark out.

  
"So…you'll be heading out towards Asia soon?"

  
"Within the next couple of days, yes, and we'll be there until the solstice. Are you allowed to leave after the Yule Ball for the remainder of the holiday?"

  
"I don't know. I don't know what Sirius and Adeline are planning. They might just decide to stay in Asia or to take their time heading back. I guess I'll find out more later."

They slowed to a stop and stood looking out into the night for a few moments, before turning to face each other with reluctance.  It made Harry feel a bit better to realize Tom seemed as loathe having to part as much as he did. He just felt happier when Tom was around--they didn't even have to speak to each other or do anything together; his mere presence was enough.

  
"I guess I should go."

  
"Um, yeah, I guess. It was nice seeing you."

  
The night around them fell silent, as though the whole world was holding its breath. The odd tension that seemed to spring up between them now and again rose up once more, and Harry's stomach began squirming.  Feeling suddenly shy and awkward, he dropped his eyes to the ground and felt his cheeks heating up, try though he might to stop it.

  
Tom took a step forward, leaving only a small space between them. Harry jumped as he felt a cool hand reach up to lightly stroke his cheek. Startled, he lifted his eyes and found his gaze caught by Tom's. His brown eyes were smoldering with a mix of emotions he couldn't even begin to decipher. The light touch on his cheek moved, and Harry felt cool fingertips beneath his chin, which began tilting his face upwards…just as Tom began leaning in. Harry froze, heart pounding, torn between the need to lean in closer or run away. It was hard to breathe, and yet for some reason he felt tremendously alive at the same time.

It was as though every nerve and synapse in his body was firing at once. Harry found his head angling to the side as Tom--and Tom's lips--came closer, and his eyes fluttered closed as they met.

  
That fleeting touch of lips on lips ignited a fire in his belly that seemed to pump molten lava into his veins in place of the more usual blood.

  
With that small, distant part of his mind, he noted he'd just been backed into a tree, and then dismissed it as unimportant as he began doing his best to burrow beneath Tom's cloak so he could reach the man beneath. Breathing started becoming a factor, and they broke apart, panting and wrapped around each other.

Tom's eyes were dilated, his hair was a mess, and his lips were red and swollen. In short, he looked damned edible. He also looked vaguely stunned, as though someone had just brained him in the back of the head with a two by four. He could see the faintest traces of panic entering his still-stunned eyes.

The lava in Harry's belly quickly got replaced by a chunk of ice, leaving him feeling off balance and slightly bereft. Tom was still standing there stiffly, looking at him like he was some frightening monster that had suddenly reared up into his face when Harry's phone started ringing.

  
Tom let go of him and backed off, while running his hands, which were trembling just a bit, through his disheveled hair, trying to put it to rights. Harry reached towards him with one hand while digging out his phone blindly with the other.

  
"Tom…"

  
"I should get going. I have a lot to do before I leave." Tom replied abruptly.

  
Harry's reaching hand slowly dropped to his side and for a moment it felt hard to breath. Tom was completely closed off to him, as distant and untouchable as the moon. Harry swallowed with difficulty around the massive lump that had formed in his throat. He found himself feeling strangely thankful for his early life with the Dursleys; that training came back to him and allowed him to push the broken glass that seemed to have filled his chest down deep and ignore it. His face went smooth and he was able to reply in an even voice.

  
"I imagine you do. It was nice to see you again, Tom. Don't let me keep you."

  
Some deep emotion flickered behind Tom's stormy eyes for just a moment, too quickly for Harry to hazard a guess as to what it was. As quickly as it appeared it vanished, leaving Tom distant and unaffected once more. He nodded regally as he stepped backwards.

"Goodbye, Harry. Perhaps I'll see you when I return."

  
"I should get this." Harry answered, brandishing his phone, before engaging it and holding it to his ear. "Hello? Nev, what's up?"

  
Tom stared at him mutely for a long moment and then vanished with a near-soundless pop. The moment he was gone, Harry sagged into the tree behind him and his face crumpled in misery for a moment, before he resolutely pushed it all back down.

  
"That late, huh? Nothing…I just got distracted and lost track of time. No worries, I've got my broom. I'll be there in two shakes." He closed his eyes and slowly let out his breath, struggling for calm.

  
"I'm fine, Nev. Don't worry." he added quietly before resolutely hanging up.

  
_"Stupid, stupid, stupid."_ Harry cursed himself quietly. _"What did you think was going to happen? The man has enough issues to fill a library."_

  
Feeling tired, unhappy, and sadly still-turned-on, he dug out his broom, mounted and took to the air.

 

 

Harry dashed through the front door just as the warning bell finished ringing. Argus Filch gave him a filthy look, and stomped off towards his office. Professor McGonagall stared down at him over her glasses, lips pursed in disapproval.

  
"In the future, Mr. Potter, do try to return at a more reasonable hour. You cut it rather close. I'm of half a mind to give you a detention even if you did technically make it back in time."

  
"I got distracted and lost track of time."

  
"You weren't drinking, were you?" McGonagall demanded sternly, while surreptitiously sniffing the air.

  
"Gosh no, professor. I'm underage." Harry answered piously.

  
"Hmph. Would that your housemates shared your sentiments."

  
McGonagall eyed him for a moment and her eyes narrowed. "Are you well, Mr. Potter?"

  
"Just peachy, Professor."

  
She eyed him a moment longer before nodding and stepping back so he could pass by.

  
"Run along. Dinner is about to begin."

  
Harry hurried into the great hall and slid into his seat just as everyone began dishing up their dinner.

  
"Hey, Harry, cutting it a bit close, aren't you?" Neville greeted.

  
Across the table, Hermione made a noise like a stepped on cat and whipped out her wand, shouting "FINITE INCANTATUM!"

  
Harry blinked at her furious face. "You know, I totally forgot about that."

  
"I DON'T BELIVE YOU!"

  
"Chill, would you? I'm trying to eat here." Harry sighed. He really wasn't in the mood for a Hermione rant right now.

  
"I suppose you think you're very funny, don't you?"

  
"We wasted the entire day looking for you!" Ginny added with a mournful pout.

  
"Did you have nothing better to do with a day out of the castle? I told you when I split ways with you earlier, I SEE YOU ALL DAY EVERY DAY. It is not my fault you wasted your whole day, that's all on you."

  
Hermione sighed rather glumly, and poked at her dinner. Ginny stared at Harry with reproving puppy eyes. He ignored her rather pointedly and turned to Neville.

  
"So, how was your day, Nev?" He asked with an attempt at lighthearted cheer. He evidently wasn't as successful as he might have liked, as Neville studied him with concern for a long moment. He obviously realized that, whatever might be wrong, Harry didn't want to talk about it, especially not there and then.

  
"It was good. Hannah and I went to Madame Puddifoot's for a bit. You were right about that place, it is way too frilly, but she makes damn fine hot chocolate. Hey, did you see Padma's book?" he replied with actual lighthearted cheer, not the facsimile Harry had tried to muster up. Harry gave him a wan smile of appreciation for his trouble.

  
"I read a few of the early chapter drafts. It wasn't my cup of tea, but it was oddly engrossing, for all that it was a complete load of tripe and the characters all have rather unhealthy relationships. Her so-called soulmates are toxically co-dependent, and they spend way too much time staring at each other and going on and on about their 'transcendent, epic love', but it seemed like it had potential nonetheless, you know, if you're into that kind of thing. I sent the manuscript on to my godfather, and he gave it to Narcissa and Nymphadora to read--they love trashy romances-- and they both seemed to like it, so they published it."

  
"When did all this happen?" Hermione demanded.

  
"Over the summer. Didn't I mention it?"

  
"No." Hermione grumbled.

  
"She slipped it to me before the board meeting. I didn't get around to looking at it for a few days, but the rest is history."

  
"What board meeting?"

  
"Of my corporation. Remember? A bunch of us got together and financed Percy and Penny's nightclub? We got together over the summer to strategize about the move and all."

  
That just made Hermione feel worse. Padma was a bestselling author, Harry had a corporation, and what was she doing? A whole lot of schoolwork and not much else, and she'd wasted a whole day following someone who didn't want to be found, and who she didn't really want to be following. That settled it. She and Ginny were going to have a long, quite overdue talk later, and then she was going to start writing a book of her own, once she had an idea of what to write about.

 

 

When they made it to the dorm later, Harry and Neville found Dean, Seamus and Ron passed out in their respective beds.

  
"Geez, it smells like a brewery in here." Neville complained, before casting a couple of air freshening charms and closing everyone's curtains.

  
"Idiots." Harry agreed. "I'm gonna take a quick shower."

  
"I'm for bed. I'll take mine in the morning." Neville replied, already stripping out of his clothes.

  
Harry headed into the bathroom and stepped under the hot spray. Almost immediately his mind began wandering and replaying the day.

  
_Tom, drenched in moonlight, dark curls framing his face, smoldering brown eyes…the feel of his arms around him, the taste of his lips…_

  
All of it ended so abruptly. Now Tom was probably off freaking out somewhere.

  
Everything was such a mess now. Their kiss had been… _hot, amazing, wow-_ -he could go on. No matter how good it had been though, he wished it had never happened. That one moment of weakness might have ruined everything. Tom might very well avoid him like the plague from here on out, even if he was the one who had made the first move. His chest ached at the thought of it--no more Tom. No more talking to him, no more hanging out, no more travelling together…

  
He allowed himself to wallow in his misery until he was waterlogged and then resolutely turned off the faucet and stepped out of the shower.

  
He faced himself in the mirror and addressed his reflection.

  
_"You killed him once and were prepared to keep living without him. You can live without him now."_

  
Maybe, given enough time, he'd believe it.  
He dried off, got dressed in his pajamas and made his way to the dorms.

He happened to glance outside as he passed the window and saw what appeared to be a great gout of flame rising from the forest.  
He moved closer and watched for a while, but whatever it had been didn’t happen again.  
Ever since that night 3/4s of the school had spent battling dragon fire on the mountain, he’d been a bit leery of fire—and surely big bursts of fire in the center of the forest couldn’t be good, right?  
Especially as the folks of Hogsmeade were likely to be just as complacent about it as they’d been when the mountain had started burning before.  
He wasn’t going to be able to sleep well until he knew what had done it.

  
He peeked at the others and saw Ron, Dean and Seamus were still dead to the world, and Neville was snoring lightly behind his curtains. It should be clear enough for what he had in mind.

  
He made a shadow clone, who disillusioned himself, pulled out a broom from the pouch on his belt, and snuck to the window. He quietly unlatched it, flew out, and Harry shut it behind him—he wouldn’t be coming back, he’d just disperse when he found out what was making fire out in the forest.

  
Several minutes later, Harry’s eyes widened in shock.

  
“Dragons? There were three, with handlers. They must be here for the tournament. The first task is dragons?” he whispered to himself.

  
So much for it being a ‘kinder, gentler’ Tri-wizard Tournament—he himself would probably have trouble with a dragon: they were big, they were fast, they had monstrous teeth and claws, their hide was magic resistant, they could fly, and they breathed fire. Nothing against any of the champions, but none of the three really seemed like the sort who trained extensively for battle—they were pretty ordinary students—so if Harry expected to have some difficulty, those three would be sitting ducks!

Well…not so much Fleur and Krum—his clone had spotted the two foreign headmasters creeping about and spying on the dragon handlers and their charges. Those two would at least be warned ahead of time. He’d best make sure Cedric was warned as well—even with a couple of days warning, a dragon was still no laughing matter.


	7. Yule Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first task of the tournament, end of year exams, and the Yule Ball

The audience screamed as Cedric Diggory, first champion up, dove out of the way of a huge blast of fire breath. He’d transfigured a rock into a yapping dog, hoping it would distract the dragon long enough to allow him to approach. It had almost worked. Cedric managed to grab hold of the golden egg that was his goal, and ran for it—they could see from the stands that he was rather singed, along half his face and one of his hands…possibly his leg as well, to judge by how he was limping.

“Oh, it’s all different now!” Hermione mocked “With safety precautions and everything!”

“Not just dragons, but nesting mothers…whoever came up with this task was a sadistic son of a bitch.” Harry agreed. “No fun for the humans…can’t be much fun for the dragons either.”

“Right…because that’s who were all concerned for, the dragons.” Ron scoffed.

“The champions at least chose to be here—the dragons didn’t.”

He glanced over, but the redhead was ignoring him—Fleur Delacour had just come out and started dancing.

Ron’s eyes glazed over. “I’m the owner of the Chudley Cannons, I am. OW!”

Hermione removed her elbow from his ribs and glared at him, then smiled when the dragon came out of its trance when Fleur moved to grab her golden egg. Some of Fleur’s hair and part of her robe got singed before she managed to make her escape. Harry noticed many of the girls in the audience seemed a bit too happy to see her get hurt. It made him feel rather bad for the girl—it was hardly her fault she drove men wild just by being in a room. He could sympathize—goodness knows he’d experienced having everyone in a room turn into a lunatic at the sight of him on more than one occasion. 

“Oh! There’s Viktor Krum!” Hermione told everyone. Ron smiled at the sight of his hero, the quidditch star, until he realized Hermione’s cheeks were a bit pink and she was smiling slightly. He repeated her earlier actions and elbowed her in the side and glowered at her. Hermione didn’t seem to appreciate it.

“Ouch…conjunctivitis. Looks like it hurts.” Dean winced. “Why did he do that?” 

“Magic resistant—the eyes are one of the few weak points. Kind of a bad choice in this case—it would probably work fine if you were out in open—it would give you a chance to run away. In close….OH!” Hermione began.

Many of them winced as the enraged dragon trampled her own eggs, smashing several of them, in an effort to get to the wizard that attacked her. She couldn’t see, and was upset and confused besides, which is probably the only thing that let him escape relatively unscathed. 

“Look at bloody Karkaroff! A nine! He should have taken points off for the broken eggs.” Seamus grumbled.

“Still think I was wrong to feel bad for the dragons?”

“I was right! This whole tournament is barbaric! What are they going to do next? Drop them into a pit filled with chimeras and manticores and tell them to retrieve one of their young so they can be rendered into potions ingredients?” Hermione huffed disgustedly.

“I guess we’ll see come February. Anyone been keeping track of the points?” Neville replied.

“Shush, they’re giving the point standings right now.” Lavender hissed.

“Can’t believe Krum’s in the lead, after his dragon smashed most of her eggs.” Ron scowled.

“It’s because bloody Karkaroff is biased—he doesn’t even attempt to make it look like he’s trying to be fair. Madame Maxime is biased towards her own champion, but she at least tried to score the others fairly. Dumbledore seems to be trying to score fairly and without bias towards the Hogwarts champion. I think I’d be a bit peeved if I were Cedric.” Seamus grumbled.

“I’m gonna go see how the printing club did.” Harry noted as the stands began clearing.

“Oh, hey yeah. I wanna see how much we made too.” Ron agreed.

“Why? It’s not like you get to keep any of it—it’s all going in the petty cash fund for club supplies.” Neville wondered.

“So? Means I can’t be curious, does it?”

The whole group of fourth year Gryffindors followed Harry down out of the stands and towards the outer gate, where there were booths set up, all of whom seemed to be doing a brisk business with the spectators as they were leaving the grounds.   
As they got closer, they heard a disappointed murmur go up, and heard Dennis Creevey’s squeaky voice apologizing.

“Sorry, folks, those were all the photos I had on hand—but not to worry! My brother, who was the photographer, was busy getting action shots of the first task today. If you come back for the second task, those photos will be available along with more of the ones I was selling today. If you’re not coming back, you can fill out one of these order forms, pay for the photos you want, and we can send them by owl as soon as more become available.” 

“Well, looks like Dennis is doing good, let’s see about the others.” Parvati noted.

They found similar conversations happening at the other booths as well—all of whom had sold out the goods they’d prepared. Many of the people left, not wanting to stick around if there was nothing to be bought, but a surprising number started filling out owl-order forms. 

“Excellent! I do so love when a plan comes together.” Harry chortled.

“I can’t believe everything sold out.” Lavender agreed, amazed.

“I told you saying it was limited edition would do the trick. Nothing makes people more willing to ante up the goods than the thought that there’s only a short time in which to do so—wizards are no different from muggles in that respect it seems.” 

“You’re such a capitalist.” Hermione grumbled.

“And that’s a bad thing, why?” Harry asked with mock affront.  
   
There was a big feast that evening to celebrate the successful conclusion of the first task, and extensive newspaper coverage in the following days, but life went more or less back to normal. It was nearly time for the end of term exams, so everyone was too busy studying and taking tests to worry about the swiftly approaching holiday. When one added in that choir practices were in full swing while they tried to get ready for their upcoming last night of term concert, it often seemed there just weren’t enough hours in the day.  
All that changed when the upcoming Yule ball was announced. Suddenly, among the forth years and older, the ball became the subject of every conversation rather than the exams. 

That evening in the Melting Pot, Harry outlined his plan.

"Everyone needs a date, right? And yet, most of us here aren't seeing anyone. Let's make things simple. We can draw names out of a hat."

"Out of a hat? Geez, that's romantic."

"No, it's not, and that's kind of the point; a no-pressure, random pairing for all the folks that need a date for the ball, but don't have anyone special in mind. You have to admit it will take a lot of misery out of the whole event for most of us." 

"What if you're a girl and pull another girl's name?" 

"No, we just put the boys names in and let the girls pick. Easy as pie." 

"I think it sounds like a great idea." Ginny chirped.

"You're a third year. You won't be involved, unless all the fourth and fifth year girls already have dates." Theo reminded her, much to her displeasure. 

"What if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend already?" Draco wondered.

"Simple--don't put a name in the hat if you're a boy, don't pick one if you're a girl."

"What if we don't want to pick our date's name out of a hat? What if we want to be asked?" Marietta Edgecomb demanded stridently.

"Don't pick a name, and hope someone gets around to asking you." 

Marietta scowled and crossed her arms, while Cho, who was seated nearby tried to console her. She didn't take it well coming from her--Cho had been asked, nice and proper, and her date was one of the champions to boot.

"Hey, Hermione, maybe you'll pick me. That'd be weird, wouldn't it?" Ron chuckled.

Hermione gave him a dirty look, before drawing herself up proudly. "I won't be picking any names. I already have a date."

"No you don't!"  
"Yes, I do."  
"You do not! The ball was just announced earlier today!"  
"And he asked me earlier this afternoon!"  
"Would you just stop, Hermione. There's no shame in not having a date. Most of us are in the same boat."  
"I'm not lying! I have a date!"   
"Who'd ask you?"

Hermione blanched and then her face scrunched up in angry misery. "You…you…ARGH!" 

Hermione stormed away, and Ron glared after her resentfully. 

"Boy, she's gonna feel pretty dumb when the ball gets here and she doesn't have a date."

The other boys just shook their heads and ignored him. 

All the boys present--the fourth and fifth years, that is, wrote their names on a piece of parchment and tossed them into the big bowl that was set out in the center of the room. The single girls stood gathered in a discontented knot at the other end of the room. Harry had been right, they didn't like his idea at all. Off to the side stood everyone who already had a date--Neville and Hannah, Pansy and Draco, Vince and Millie, Cho, Hermione and a few others.

Susan Bones sighed, straightened her back and marched up to the bowl, fished around and pulled out one of the slips. The other girls watched her glumly. Susan opened the slip and read out "Gregory Goyle". She didn't look thrilled, but she didn't seem too terribly bothered either. Greg, on the other hand, could hardly believe his good fortune. He smiled rather goofily, and joined Susan, then the two of them moved to the side of the room with the rest of the folks with dates.

Marietta Edgecomb glowered sullenly at everyone in the room, and went next. "Zacharias Smith."

"God, that's a nightmare combination if ever I heard one." Seamus Finnegan whispered. 

"Look at it this way, mate, it save anyone else from having to deal with either of them." Dean whispered back. 

Padma Patil went next. "Ron Weasley." 

Ron stood so suddenly he nearly knocked his chair over. "Score!" he whispered to the guys nearby, before hurrying to Padma's side. 

Harry started getting nervous as the number of girls dwindled and his name still hadn't been picked. Most of the girls who had sat out the choosing had dates who were older, and therefore weren't part of the selection pool, which left more boys than girls left to take part in the lottery. As the last of the fourth and fifth year girls pulled names, Harry felt a quickly growing knot of despair deep inside. Ginny Weasley, face aglow with triumph and vindication, shoved the nearest third year girls out of her way and marched towards the bowl. She pulled a slip, unrolled it, and a wide smile broke across her face. "HARRY POTTER!" 

Harry sighed and rubbed his face tiredly, before climbing to his feet like a man on his way to the gallows.

_"Great plan, Harry."_ he muttered under his breath. Ginny squealed and attached herself to his arm like a leech, and he quickly began to lose feeling in it. It was going to be a long week.

One of Ginny's friends, Romilda Vane, glowered at Ginny as she marched towards the bowl and the remaining names--Ginny gave a triumphant smirk in return. 

"Theodore Nott." she announced. 

Theo peeled himself out of his seat and went to stand with her. The last fellow left was Michael Corner. A Hufflepuff third year named Carly Bucket went and grabbed his name. She was cute--slightly plump with curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. Michael seemed more interested in trying to peer down the front of her robes than looking at her face. She was one of those girls that developed early. Michael seemed pretty well pleased with his date. In fact, looking around, most of the kids in the room seemed happy enough to just have all the pressure over with and be assured they wouldn't looking like an idiot, lurking around the sidelines of the ball all alone.

Because of the random element involved, most of the couples were of different houses. Harry thought the teachers would be rather shocked by how mixed all the couples were. Heck, there were several Slytherin-Gryffindor couples that he could spot with just a casual glance around: Theo and Romilda Vane, Parvati and Blaise Zabini, plus a couple of fifth years. Same house couples like himself and Ginny were actually the oddities in the bunch. It seemed his plan was a great success…well, for everyone but himself. 

It was annoying to say the least. Ginny was a good-looking girl, had mad quidditch skills, and she could occasionally be amusing and somewhat intelligent. None of that mattered to him, because the mere fact that she was an obsessed fan-girl seriously outweighed whatever better qualities she might have. He shook her off his arm and ignored her wounded grumbling while trying to massage the feeling back into his arm. Ginny apparently decided to overlook his behavior, and pasted a big smile with far too many teeth on her face.   
"I need to go write mum and get her to send me some dress robes!" she chirped. "She'll be so excited. I'll just borrow Hedwig to tell her the good news!" she chirped before giggling rather giddily and flouncing out of the room. Harry sighed, rubbed his head and made his way to his 'not a throne'. Once there, he dug out a headache draught and downed it.

It was becoming increasingly obvious to him that he was unlucky in love. 

 

"Harry! Wait up!"

Harry slowed to a stop and he and Neville turned to look behind them at Ginny who was scrambling out of the portrait hole after them. 

She squeezed into place between them and hip-checked Neville to get him out of her way. Neville glowered down at the top of her head, but she ignored him, too busy smiling up at Harry. 

"Did you need something, Ginny?"

"I thought we could head down to breakfast together." she replied with a grin. 

Harry sighed and continued walking, listening with half an ear as Ginny started chattering excitedly about the upcoming ball. 

He was still feeling rather bruised by events from the last Hogsmeade weekend, and trying to stave off a hysterical freak-out from questioning his sexuality. 

Things had been so simple before. His future, when he bothered to think about it, always included a woman and a couple of kids--at some indistinct point in the future, once he'd secured his freedom and independence and had his fill of adventure. His reaction to kissing Tom made him doubt how feasible that future was. Of course, he could be worrying over nothing. It was pretty obvious Tom was just as freaked out by what had happened. If he was simply hot for Tom, and not gay as such, he could just ignore what happened until he got over him and still have the nice, normal, safe future. There was a part of him, the part that had hoped he'd left his 'freak' days behind when he rejoined the magical world, that hoped he could do just that. Sadly, the part of him that had sat up and roared when Tom kissed him didn't think it would be that simple. 

"Harry! Are you listening to me?"

"No."

There was a beat of appalled silence from Ginny. Neville bit his lip and turned his face away so she wouldn't see him trying not to laugh.

"WHAT!"

"Oh, sorry…are you one of those people who likes to be lied to? In that case, of course I was listening, and I totally agree about whatever it was you were talking about. Now, could you hush? Morning is quiet time. Lunch is talk time. If you can't manage that, I'm afraid you'll have to sit somewhere else." 

Harry and Neville pulled ahead of her as they neared the great hall and took their usual seats, across from Hermione, who was already seated and had her nose buried in a large book. She glanced up when the two of them sat down and the three of them exchanged nods. Once that was done, the two boys began loading up their plates. Ginny hovered and watched the three of them like she'd never seen their like before. She probably hadn't. She wasn't usually up this early. She usually came down with the rest of the house in a half hour or so, right around the time the three of them were usually on their way out. 

Meals at the Gryffindor table were usually boisterous affairs, with everyone talking, laughing and carrying on while eating everything in sight. Given the personalities of the Weasleys he knew, he imagined meals at their home were much the same. Harry poured himself some tea and inhaled the steam, smiling as he did so. 

Looking quite disgruntled, Ginny settled down on the bench beside Hermione with a thump and glowered at all of them. 

Over the next half hour the noise level in the great hall gradually rose. Hufflepuff house, who were all present and accounted for long before any of the other houses were even a quarter full slowly got louder and more animated as the others arrived. Slytherin house arrived in a group, Ravenclaw trickled in in twos and threes. Gryffindor house arrived last and the noise level went up tenfold once it did. Harry sighed again as the table filled up around them. Parvati and Lavender were both squealing about something or other, Ron and Hermione immediately started bickering, the Weasley twins were telling jokes and laughing loudly…

"And so ends quiet time."

The morning mail arrived in a flurry of owls. A package was dropped off in front of Ginny who squealed in glee, cast a flirty look Harry's way, before hurrying off to look at her new dress robes up in her dorm.

"I should have kept my mouth shut about my 'great idea'." Harry sighed as he watched her go. "I'm gonna head out. You ready?" 

Neville nodded and wiped at his mouth before standing. As the two of them walked off, Fred and George leaned down to talk to their youngest brother. 

"What was that?"

"Yeah, why is Ginny getting secret packages?"

"They're dress robes for the ball. She's got a date with Harry." Ron answered around a mouthful of food. 

"Our ickle Gin-Gin has a date?"

The twins exchanged a glance and nodded to one another. It was obvious they were going to have to have a talk with Mr. Potter and set a few ground rules.

 

"I can't believe this is my life." Harry sighed to himself as he listened to the sound of Ginny's footsteps retreat down the hallway away from his hiding place. 

It was getting to be downright ridiculous. It seemed every time he turned around, she was there, sidling up to him, batting her eyes and trying to latch onto his arm. He'd told her straight out that they weren't dating, and there was nothing between them but a stupid ball he as a fourth year was required to attend. In normal circumstances, he'd have broken off their date, but thanks to his 'great idea', every single girl seventh year on down had a date already. He didn't know if she was deranged or just stupid, but all his protests seemed to go in one ear and out the other. According to Hannah Abbot, Ginny was convinced they were soulmates and destined to be together, and she'd apparently known this 'fact' from a very young age. To make things worse, it seemed he had enemies out there that were encouraging her in said delusions. If only Luna and her father hadn't had plans for the holidays. He could have asked her and had fun and remained friends afterwards. 

He'd finally gotten fed up with Ginny's persistent stalking and had ducked out of the Melting Pot. 

He dug out his map and looked for Ginny. Happily, she was peeking in doors two corridors over. He should be able to slip past her and into one of the rooms of requirement. He really didn't want her learning their secrets--it would be worse than Hermione knowing. He'd never get away from her. 

He noted more Weasleys on the map--the twins this time. Everyone else was either in the Melting Pot and its environs, or in their house common rooms this time of day, so their presence stood out. Whatever, they weren't his problem. They were probably just planning a prank or something. 

He went back to Ginny's dot on the map and noted her location before slipping out and trying to sneak off, while making periodic checks to see if she'd heard him or was headed his way. She hadn't--she was heading further in the other direction. The twins, however, were headed on a path to intercept him if he wasn't careful. He altered his path accordingly, but to his surprise, they immediately changed course and were once again set to intercept him. He sighed in irritation and altered his path once more…and once again the twins suddenly changed directions and were once again on a path that would intercept him. 

"Curioser and curioser." He took note of them and Ginny once more and made a quick dash deeper into the dungeons, changing direction several times and backtracking before circling around to one of the many empty rooms and settling in to wait. The twins had followed him pretty well, and then suddenly stopped, before making a beeline towards his current location. Harry's eyebrows rose. It seemed he might have just discovered the location of the original Marauder's map. It hadn't been in Filch's office, like Sirius and Remus had expected it to be.   
The door opened and the twins sauntered in, both looking smug and well-pleased with themselves.

"Accio Marauder's Map." 

An old, worn parchment pulled itself free from one of the twin's pockets and towards Harry. The twins stood stunned for a second and tried to grab it, but Harry got there first.

"So, I was right then. Good to know." 

"How did you…"

"Do you know the Marauders?"

"I went looking for this thing first year. I was expecting to find it in Filch's office. That's where the remaining Marauders were expecting it to be. I'm sure they'll be tickled it found its way to a new generation of pranksters." 

The twins both grinned excitedly. "You do know them! Who are they?"

"Yeah, they're our heroes."

"You already know one of them and you've met two others."

"We did?"  
"When?!"

"Professor Lupin is Moony. My godfather Sirius Black is Padfoot. My father, James Potter, was prongs. Wormtail, the filthy traitorous rat, spent a few years as your brother's pet before he was captured by the DMLE."

"Peter Pettigrew."

"The one and only." Harry agreed.

"Wow. So…this thing is like a family heirloom or something. Sorry, mate. If we'd have known we'd have given it back to you."

"Not having it doesn't seem to have hurt you any though."

"Mmm." Harry agreed non-committally. "I'll bet Sirius will be glad I've found it. He and his wife are expecting. I'm sure he'd like to pass it on to his son." 

The twins exchanged a rueful glance when Harry tucked the map away in his pocket. 

"You can have it back." the one on the left--Fred, if he wasn't mistaken--said magnanimously. "We've already learned everything we could from it."

"We learned more from that map than we ever did in class. They're really something else."

"I'm sure they'll be thrilled to know that." 

"As much as we'd like to grill you a bit more on our role models"

"We actually came here on business."

"We've heard through the grapevine that you and our dear ickle Gin-Gin are dating…"

"Whoah, whoah. Hold it right there. We are not dating. She pulled my name out of a bowl, and so I'm taking her to the ball. That's it."

The twins exchanged another speaking glance, before turning back to him.

"If that's the case, then I'm guessing"  
"You won't be accepting our mum's invitation"  
"To spend the holidays with us at the Burrow"  
"So you can meet the family."

"Why would I need to go there to do that? I've met your parents, you, Ron, Percy and Ginny already. I even met your brother Charlie once. Besides, why would I spend the holidays with you guys? No offense, but I've already got my own family, and what's more, this is the last time it'll be just the three of us. Adeline is due in just a few more months." 

"Our mum seems to be under the impression that your date with Gin-Gin is more serious than it appears it is."

"Even if we were actually dating…your sister is like, thirteen, right? Isn't that a bit soon to be pulling a whole 'meet the in-laws' thing? I mean, seriously." 

The twins just nodded. 

 

“God, the exams this year were awful. My poor hand is throbbing…throbbing, I tell you!” Ron moaned.

“I believe you, geez. You’re not the only one. They’re trying to make sure we’re all on track for OWLs at the end of the year.” Dean laughed.

“Only six months. I’m terrified. I’m also rethinking my idea on trying for twelve. I’m not sure I can handle the stress.” Pansy admitted.

“You’ll do fine. Just think of them like a game of interrogation, if it helps. You always do good in that.” Draco said through a yawn.

“That’s because I’m competitive.”

“So be competitive on paper, not just in front of an audience.”

“I think you’re all mad, personally.” Millicent spoke up. “I’m going to take my tests for ten, hope I do well enough to manage at least seven, and I’ll be satisfied.”

“You shouldn’t be satisfied with seven out of ten! I thought Slytherins were supposed to be ambitious.” Hermione scolded.

“Well, that’s my ambition then—to get at least seven OWLs.”

“Me too. I have no need of twelve OWLs. I’m going to open up a fashion boutique and beauty salon when I get out of school.” Lavender offered.

“And I’m going to help her. We’re going to run a divination service as a sideline.” Parvati added sleepily from her seat. 

“Ah man…I’ve got to get to choir practice.”

“You’ve all been in practice a lot—what gives?”

“We’re doing a concert at the final dinner feast. Madame Perks just wants to make sure everything is perfect. She doesn’t intend to let us embarrass ourselves in front of the foreigners. This is the last practice before the concert. I’ve gotta go.” 

Harry peeled himself out of his seat and climbed to his feet. When he was standing, he let out a shrill whistle.

“Come on, choir folks, it’s time for practice.”

Sleepy groans answered him from different parts of the room, but everyone climbed to their feet—they’d fought too hard to get the choir back to just slack off now that they had it.  
   
Dinner, the night before end of term, was a grand feast, featuring not only foods native to the British Isles, but a selection of delicacies from the homelands of their foreign guests as well. The great hall was lavishly decorated, and the children were in high spirits due to the end of the term and the upcoming holidays.   
When dinner was almost over, the choir members slipped off to get ready for the concert. While they were thus occupied, the ghosts of Hogwarts started drifting down into the hall in twos and threes to hover about the ceiling. 

The program that night was a full complement of music for the holiday season—wizard Yule carols, muggle Christmas carols that focused on the holiday season rather than the religious aspects of Christmas, and as the finale ‘Carol of the bells’—sung in the native languages of all the visiting students. It had taken some work to fit in all the languages in a way that sounded nice rather than discordant, but they’d finally done it. Truthfully, every last one of them was heartily sick of the song, as they’d sung it so many times while trying to work out the kinks. They were all rather thrilled that tonight was the last time they’d have to sing it for a good long while.   
   
As the opening strains of the first song began, Harry was amused to note little Gabrielle Delacour sitting with her sister, face shining while she smiled in delight. She seemed to like Hogwarts much better now that the rebellion was over; she had quite enjoyed the puppet show as well, as he recalled. It was still hard to believe she was actually thirteen, not eight—she certainly didn’t look it. 

They performed flawlessly, if Harry did say so himself—you could almost feel the music sweeping out across the audience and gripping them in its hold. They even got a standing ovation when it was over. Harry’s earlier annoyance with the ‘carol of the bells’ vanished in the wake of its enthusiastic reception—it had been sort of magical, really—different languages chiming in at different times, as though all the people of the world were united for a single moment in time to celebrate the holiday season. 

It just went to prove that whoever had tried removing the arts from Hogwarts was mad—a world without the arts was an empty, soulless husk. It was pretty sad when muggles, who had not the tiniest lick of magic in them, valued such things more than wizards did, because it was obvious that music was a sort of magic, really. He honestly didn’t understand people sometimes.   
   
In the morning, all the first, second and third years (minus those who were attending the ball) boarded the Hogwart's Express to head home for the holidays. Harry and Neville walked Luna to the carriage and helped her with her trunk. 

"Have a good holiday. Give your father my best."

"Same here."

"Happy holidays to you too, boys. Enjoy the Yule ball." 

Harry gave her a wan smile in return and shrugged. "Hopefully it'll be fun. Ginny hasn't been pestering me like she used to. Hopefully she finally caught a clue and we can just enjoy the ball and then go our separate ways."

Luna and Neville exchanged a glance and Luna smiled and patted Harry on the arm.

"Good luck with that." 

"Thanks. Enjoy your time in the Alps." 

"I'm sure we will. We'll be staying with some friends of daddy's, and they tell us there are all sorts of interesting creatures all around where they live. I'm sure it will be both fun and educational." 

They helped her into her carriage and then waved till it was out of sight around the first turn, before heading back inside. 

"You seem a bit down." Neville noted.

"I was just thinking about stuff is all. Sirius and Adeline are in Australia right now. Tom is in Japan somewhere, and the others helping facilitate the move are scattered throughout the rest of Asia and the easternmost parts of Russia. I've never been out of England, and once we've moved, any chance I would have had to see more of this world is pretty much gone. I traveled across the length and breadth of the new world, but I've only ever seen a small, small part of the world I was born on and spent most of my life in. How sad is that?"

"When's the solstice?"

"The twenty second. Are you heading home after the ball?"

"Yeah. Truthfully, I kind of resent being forced to stay for the ball, even though I'm sure it'll be nice and me and Hannah will have a good time. This would have been my first ever Christmas with my parents, that I'd be able to remember anyway, and I'm going to miss it." 

"That does suck. It's not quite the same thing, but I'll be missing the last Christmas where it'll be just the three of us. Adeline is due in spring, which means next Christmas there'll be a new baby around." 

"That'll be weird, huh? A little brother or sister."

"I'm sort of looking forward to it. I've never had one before."

"Yeah…it might be sort of cool."

"Well, your parents are still pretty young. Who knows? You might find yourself with a younger sibling before too long."

"Huh. I don't know how I'd feel about that. I just got them myself."

"Believe me, mate, I understand. Part of me feels the same and Sirius and Adeline aren't even my parents." Harry chuckled as they entered the castle. 

They ran into Ron who was coming down the stairs as they came in.

"What's got you two looking so down?"

"Not down really, just serious. We're talking about younger siblings."

"You're both only children."

"Not for long. Adeline is due in spring."

"My mum's expecting twins. I don't know what my parents were thinking they were doing. They're way too old to be carrying on like that."

"Hey Ron, I'm going to remind you of this conversation when you're their age. I'll make sure to point out that you're not allowed to shag anymore." 

 

 

"Oh, Minister Fudge, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, Rosmerta dear, yes, I'm here on official business today."

"Oh? What sort of official business do you have at Hogwarts?" she asked "Can I interest you in a drink while you're here?"

Fudge twisted his hat in his hands and then smiled. "A drink sounds lovely. I'm sure an hour or so's delay won't matter much."

"I'm not keeping you from anything important, I hope?"

"Well, it is rather important, but like I said, an short delay shouldn't matter."

"Here you are, one house special." 

Fudge took a seat, and took a long pull on his drink. "Ah, marvelous as always Rosmerta." he sighed, while smacking his lips appreciatively.

"You never said what it was that brought you out here."

"Oh, right. It's these dances. Bad business, that. They're illegal, but word has reached us they're still performing them at Hogwarts. I'm here to remind everyone that the law is the law, and people aren't allowed to just flaunt the law when and where they please! There will be consequences, oh my yes! Any students found taking part in illegal seasonal dances will face fines for a first offense--rather hefty ones at that. Repeat offenders could face jail time."

"Fines and jail time for dancing?"

"It's no laughing matter! All sorts of trouble arises from those things. Why, the Black wedding last year was a perfect case in point. Do you know how long it took to track down all the bloody muggles that got swept up in the thing and obliviate them? And then folks have the nerve to just head up here to keep doing them, even after it's been made illegal! With the kind of crowds that keep heading this way, not to mention the sheer number of students, it'll start spilling over and there will be a huge mess. No, I'm here to lay down the law. No more dancing." 

"Isn't there supposed to be a ball going on?"

"Oh, regular dancing is allowed, within reason of course, it's only those damned dark wizard dances that are getting the axe. Stuff and mischief, that's what they are." 

"Tonight is the solstice." 

"Which is why I'm here, to head off any shenanigans." Fudge agreed cheerfully. He finished his drink and then dithered a moment. "I suppose I have time for one more…"

Rosmerta smirked at him and poured him another. 

"It's rather crowed hereabouts today. Odd, for a weekday."

Rosmerta busied herself cleaning the bar. "Oh, we get lots of last minute shoppers for Christmas." she said hesitantly. 

Fudge frowned at her and then his eyes widened. 

"They're all here for the solstice, aren't they? B-but…I know most of these people! They're not dark wizards!" he hissed quietly. 

Rosmerta frowned back at him and put her hands on her hips. "Well of course they're not dark wizards! Dancing the seasons is hardly a depraved act!" 

"Well, it seems I have my work cut out for me. I'm sorry to lose you your custom, Rosmerta, but the law is the law." Fudge said piously, as he stood and jammed his hat on his head. He puffed out his chest, and was about to address the assembled patrons and shoo them back to their homes when a wild feeling swept through the town. Everyone in the inn leapt to their feet and started dancing, right out of the inn and into the street. Fudge was swept right along with them. 

There was a sizeable crowd already in the streets of Hogsmeade, and they were dancing too. Some part of his mind noted that a few minutes afterwards, the students of Hogwarts came pouring right out of the gates and started dancing as well, right there in the snow. He was amazed, shocked…overwhelmed even. He thought for a moment that he could feel the whole world dancing with him…well, the magical parts, at least. For a moment he was stunned at how many magical people, places and things were out there, and they were all connected…. It was humbling. 

The wild feeling built to a crescendo and he felt the most distant parts of the magical world shift slightly sideways. 

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the wild feeling settled back down, and they were all released from its grip. Fudge found himself standing with the cheerful crowd in Hogsmeade, and realized he had just broken the law, along with everyone else. 

He looked around at everyone, still surprised by how many people had traveled all the way to Hogsmeade to take part, and he realized if he fined everyone but not himself there was going to be a lot of resentment, and it would all be directed at him. That was never a good state of affairs for a politician. That was when it occurred to him that no muggles had been swept up--none at all. He weighed the pros and cons, and decided to quit while he was ahead. He went back to the Three Broomsticks to use the floo. Rosmerta raised an eyebrow when she spotted him, almost as though she were daring him to try fining her. 

He smiled nervously and hurried towards the fireplace. "Um…have a lovely evening, Rosmerta. It was nice seeing you again." 

 

 

Harry was rather surprised when he came back from his workout on Christmas day, and found all his yearmates awake and in the common room. 

"Wow. Everyone is awake." 

"Of course we are, mate. It's Christmas! Presents!"

"I take it your parents didn't go through with their threat to withhold presents this year to pay for you bar tab?"

"Over here, Harry, I brought yours down too." Neville called. Harry made his way over to settle next to him, while Ron grimaced at the reminder of his poorly-thought-out drinking binge at the Hogshead. 

"Nah, they decided to be nice I guess. Dad's been working overtime all month." 

"Doing what?"

"I dunno…catching folks misusing muggle artifacts, I guess."

"I doubt it's that. Muggles can't interact with magical things or places anymore." 

"That's ridiculous!" Hermione objected. 

"Go ask Professor Lupin. He'll tell you. Will you be going home for the remainder of the holiday?"

"I was planning to…"

"Well then, I guess you'll see for yourself."

Hermione, Seamus and Dean all exchanged disquieted looks, and then bent back over their presents. 

They spent the morning hanging out and playing games, eating candy and toasting things over the fire. Early in the afternoon, the girls started vanishing upstairs to get ready.

"Where are they all going? The ball doesn't start for hours and hours!" Ron complained. "Surely it doesn't take that much work to make themselves presentable?"

"Apparently, they think it does." Dean laughed. "who's up for another round?"

"Deal me in." 

"Me too."

The ball was due to start at eight. The boys headed upstairs around seven to get ready. 

"Sweet Merlin, Ron! What the bloody hell is that?" Seamus wondered.

Ron cringed and hung his head miserably. 

"Those would be my dress robes."

The other boys gathered around and stared at the monstrosity on Ron's bed in fascinated horror. They had a big, wide collar, full sleeves and hung to the ankles--they were also faded, covered in fraying embroidery and miles of grubby lace. The shirt that went with them had yet more lace on it--enough to cover his entire chest in great frothing mounds of the stuff. 

"Why the hell didn't you do something to spruce them up?" Neville wondered.

"Like what? There's nothing to be done."

"Are you a wizard or aren't you?"

Harry wandered out of the shower, drying his hair, and drifted over to see what everyone was looking at.

"Bloody hell, mate. You might want to get moving on fixing those. We don't have much time." 

"Hell, we don't do we?" Dean cursed as he hurried back to his own bed to finish dressing. 

Neville finished up first and checked the time. "I should get going. I'm supposed to meet Hannah downstairs." 

Seamus and Dean left soon after, while Ron was prodding at his robes with his wand, trying to make them more stylish. Harry continued dithering, but was finally dressed, groomed and ready to go. 

"You'd best hurry. Where are you supposed to meet Padma?"

"Downstairs outside the great hall."

"It's nearly time."

"How do I look?" Ron asked as he finished putting on his robes and turned to face Harry.

Ron had removed the lace, and tidied up the embroidery, which he'd made gold, while he'd made the robe itself red velvet.

"It's very…Gryffindor."

"It is, innit?" Ron agreed cheerfully. He spent some time preening in front of the mirror and then went strutting off to meet up with Padma. Harry sighed, realizing he couldn't dither any longer. He really hoped Ginny behaved herself tonight, or it was going to be a really long evening.

He marched downstairs and found Ginny lingering in the common room, and feeling rather morose, to judge by her posture.

"Ginny?"

Ginny straightened and spun to face him, her bereft look transforming to one of joy. She smiled shyly and smoothed down the front of her dress, before giving a little spin to show off what she was wearing. 

It was the ugliest dress he'd ever seen. It had a lime green Peter Pan collar, a flamingo pink bodice, and a lime green overskirt that ended at her knees, with a flamingo pink underskirt that continued down to the floor, with a red-orange sash around her middle. The colors were unflattering, as was the cut and style--not to mention it was damned ugly. To make things worse, Ginny was wearing approximately a pound and a half of makeup--peacock blue on her eyelids, a thick crusting of black mascara, bright red lipstick and two large red spots on her cheeks. 

"Ginny? Close your eyes would you?"

Ginny trembled in place and closed her eyes, tilting her face up, obviously expecting a kiss. She jumped and screamed when Harry scourgified the makeup off her face. 

"Harry! Do you know how long that took me! What are you doing?" she shrieked angrily. 

Harry ignored her and tapped his chin with his wand while he studied her dress and considered how to improve it. 

When he was done, Ginny was in a boat-necked ball gown with poufy sleeves and a full skirt in amber silk . A few more quick transfigurations gave her long gloves that covered her arms to above the elbow, a necklace, earrings and bracelet. A few grooming charms put her hair in a sophisticated upsweep, and added a faint hint of color to eyes, cheeks and lips. Harry studied the finished effect, and walked around her in a slow circle.

"Alright. You'll do. Whoever gave you advice on your makeup and told you it looked good, don't ever listen to them again because they're big, fat, liars. Oh, lift your skirt a bit. I'll need to change your shoes to match as well."

Ginny bit her lip and lifted the front hem of her dress a few inches. She was wearing ratty trainers beneath, obviously counting on the length of her skirt to hide them.   
Harry sighed, transfigured them into black slippers to match the dress and tucked his wand away, before holding his arm cocked out to one side.

"Shall we? As it stands, we've probably missed the beginning of the ball."

They hurried down the stairs, and Harry let out a sigh of relief as they saw the doors to the great hall were just opening.

"Well, we've lucked out. We weren't nearly as late as I feared. They're just heading in now." Harry said as he flicked at his robes to settle any wrinkles. 

He held out his arm again, and Ginny gripped at his elbow, letting herself be swept along in his wake. She caught sight of her reflection for a moment in one of the darkened windows looking out over the courtyard, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of herself and Harry both looking so elegant and grown up. She stood a little straighter, and gripped Harry's elbow a little tighter, and together they swept in to the great hall behind the champions and their dates and the crowd. 

Inside, it looked like a winter wonderland. She gazed up at the boy on her arm and felt a delightful shiver travel down her spine. It was going to be a magical night.

 

"Is that Hermione Granger?"

"Where?" Ron asked curiously.

"Right there, silly. On the arm of Viktor Krum."

"Viktor…Krum?" Ron repeated numbly. He stared at the vision of loveliness in the periwinkle robes, with the smooth, upswept hair and realized with a shock that it was indeed his buck-toothed, bushy-haired friend. Said friend was apparently not only a girl, but a smoking hot one. 

The champions and their dates moved out to the center of the floor while the crowd lined up around the edges to watch. The three couples did a waltz to open the ball. Ron found he couldn't quite take his eyes off his friend.   
He was brought out of his musings by a sharp jab to his arm. He turned to find Padma glaring at him in stony silence. 

"You are here with me. I don't care if you're having some sort of epiphany, the fact remains that you are here with me, not her. You will be a proper escort this evening, do you hear me? You will hold my seat, you will fetch drinks as the situation calls for, and you will dance. If you don't, I will tell the other girls such scathing reports of your behavior that it will be a miracle if you ever manage to get another date ever again. Are we clear?"

She gazed at him with such flinty-eyed certainty, Ron felt a cold chill in his blood. He nodded and followed after her obediently as they went to find their seats. His gaze travelled back towards Hermione, who was being seated at one of the Champions' tables at the front of the hall, but Padma's fingers snapping in front of his eyes jerked his attention back to his date. 

"Never another date again so long as you live." she warned. 

Ron smiled weakly. "Heh, heh. Hermione who?" he asked nervously.

Padma smiled and patted him on the cheek, before growing stern once more. "Get my chair."

"Yes ma'am." 

 

"Ginny? Uh…wow." Neville stuttered, only to jump and slant a glance at Hannah. Hanna was smiling and looking friendly, but her fingers were digging into Neville's arm rather fiercely.

"That's a lovely dress. Wherever did you get it?" Hannah asked.

Ginny's face began to go violently red, leaving her looking rather like a tomato.

"Harry's doing." she mumbled, though her eyes glinted with resentment at Hannah for asking embarrassing questions of her. 

Neville's eyebrows rose and he slanted a glance at Harry, whose fingers twitched. Neville's eyes widened in understanding, though he had to suppress a wince on Ginny's behalf. It was every teenager's nightmare to get a dream date with their longtime crush, only to be laughed at for their trouble. 

_"I had to do something. She looked like a ruddy clown in an ugly dress."_

Ouch. Poor kid.

The four of them grabbed seats and perused the menus that were left at each spot. 

"Wow, we get dinner made to order. This is a pretty fancy set up." Ginny marveled.

"It's pretty standard in the better restaurants." 

Ginny glowered at Hannah's friendly face and her eyes narrowed.

"I know that! It's not usual for Hogwarts though is it?" she growled in response. Harry and Neville exchanged glum glances and tried to ignore the byplay between their dates. 

As the foursome was finishing up their dinner, Hannah spotted a flash out of the corner of her eye and turned to look. She spotted the corner that had been set aside for pictures. The photography club had passed around order forms to all the houses so that everyone could buy a photograph of themselves and their dates at the ball for a small fee. For a bit more, you could also get a commemorative photo frame made by the art club. 

"Hey, we should get our pictures taken."

"Pictures?" Ginny asked with interest before turning to Harry with an intent gaze. 

Harry gave her a wan smile in return and climbed to his feet--it was hardly an unreasonable request, and her parents would probably like to have a photo. He wondered what they'd think of the dress he'd given her…

They made their way to the corner Colin and Morag had set up for their use. Colin was handling the posed photos, while Morag was roaming the hall taking pictures of the ball itself.   
They all got into line behind the others who'd gotten there ahead of them and waited their turn.   
Neville and Hannah went up first. They made an attractive couple. Neville, while no longer tan, was still tall and fit, and looked rather dapper in his black, tuxedo-like dress robes. Hannah was in pale yellow, with her blonde hair swept up, while a few artful curls framed her face.   
They were positioned beneath a decorative arch laden with holly that was framed to either side by small pine trees laden with snow and icicles that were decorated for the holiday season. 

Harry and Ginny stepped into place once Neville and Hannah were done. Colin posed them facing one another, then with both of them facing to the right and then with Ginny seated and Harry standing just behind her. They would have the option of getting one of each, or just the one they liked best. Harry hadn't put in an order for any of the pictures as he hadn't really planned on getting any, but he realized now he hadn't really considered that Sirius and Adeline would be expecting one once they heard that others had them. Once their photo shoot was done he moved to the little stand Dennis Creevey had nearby and bought two commemorative frames, one for each of them, and asked for a copy of all three photos to be included with them. He had his belt pouch on him, and so even had money to pay for it then and there. 

Ginny looked positively giddy when he was done. He understood a moment later why--he caught a flicker of a daydream: the two of them wandering through stores while he bought her lots of expensive things followed by dates at expensive restaurants and clubs while photographers and reporters followed them, after which she ended up on the front page. Harry stifled a sigh and led her towards the edge of the dance floor that had been left in the center of the great hall. The food was vanishing from all the tables as the music was queued up again.

The rest of the guests rose from the tables, which disappeared, and were replaced by a few chairs here and there, spaced around the sides and back of the hall, and a long table filled with punch and finger foods. 

Harry found himself beyond relieved that Ginny seemed to actually know how to dance a proper waltz. He mentally patted himself on the back for his mad fashion skills as they whirled across the floor; Ginny seemed to be garnering quite a few appreciative glances and shocked double-takes. 

Harry could feel eyes on himself, and glanced over to see Professor Snape, staring at himself and Ginny with a rather creepy thousand yard stare and looking like he'd just witnessed the end of all hope. He was rather taken aback when Snape caught his eye and looked at him as though he despised the very sight of him, and then went stalking out into the garden. 

How very odd. He'd never really had a problem with the man before, outside of the very first potions class he had with him. He wasn't nice to him or anything--he wasn't really nice to anyone--but he'd never seemed to go out of his way to make him miserable either. Honestly, outside of class he very rarely saw the man, so it was decidedly odd to have him act like he hated him all of a sudden. He caught the flash of Ginny's red hair from the corner of his eye and began to clue in to what was going on. 

He'd been told that Snape and his mother--his redheaded mother--were once close. He'd been told he looked just like his father. He supposed looking out over the crowd of dancing teens and spotting a James-Potter lookalike with a redhead in his arms had given him flashbacks or something. Wow. He really needed to let it go. His mother had been dead for thirteen years, and she'd married a man that wasn't Snape years before that. He really needed to move on.

He realized on their next turn around the floor that Snape wasn't the only one watching them and seeing the past: Dumbledore was twinkling at them benignly, Professor Lupin was misty-eyed with nostalgia, Professor McGonagall was as well. Even Professor Slughorn was watching the two of them with smiling benediction. It was official--there was a bloody conspiracy afoot to marry him off to Ginny and turn the two of them into replacements for his dead parents! Geez, way to make a guy feel wanted and appreciated on his own merits--NOT!

He started steering them towards Draco and Pansy and managed to sidle up beside them as the song ended.

"Mind if I cut in?"

Ginny stared at him with mute, wounded eyes, and Draco frowned at him with irritation before pasting on a smile and agreeing to swap partners.

He handed Ginny off to Draco and swept Pansy off into the crowd as the music started up again. 

"Is she being that unbearable, darling?"

"No, she's been fine. She was too focused on trading sugared barbs with Hannah Abbot during dinner to bug me much, and she's been too busy dancing and looking around since then to be much of a bother. It's actually the teachers that are the problem" he explained what he'd seen earlier. 

Pansy wrinkled her nose and made a disgusted face. "That's just ewww. What kind of person wants a boy to find a clone of his mother to shag? It's just sick!"

"I know, right?"

They both shuddered in horror at the very idea and kept dancing. 

 

Ginny was rather disgruntled to not only be flung at Draco Malfoy, of all people, but then the ferrety little git had the nerve to dump her off after their dance on one of his hulking goons and dance off with Susan Bones. She saw him again a few minutes later with Pansy again, and craned her neck around to find Harry, only to find that _he_ was now dancing with Susan Bones. Then to add insult to injury, the great lummox she was stuck with went and fetched Susan, and dumped her off again, this time with Cedric, who was now dancing with her. Goyle and Susan whirled off, and she was stuck being ignored by Cedric, who was watching Harry and Cho boogie down. Cedric went to reclaim Cho as soon as he could, but she was now dancing with Viktor Krum, and Harry was elsewhere on the floor dancing with Hermione. Viktor spun her around the floor a few times, eyes on Hermione the whole time, and then he went and grabbed her back, from Blaise Zabini and left her with him. Harry was now dancing with Parvati Patil. Blaise soon dumped her off on her brother of all people, taking back Parvati, because Harry was now dancing with Padma Patil. Ron told her flat out he wasn't dancing with his sister and wandered off to find food and drinks.

Ginny sank down at the table and pouted at all the dancing couples.

Padma returned a short while later, breathless and giddy, just in time for Ron to return with drinks--for himself and Padma, but not for her. 

"Where's Harry?"

"Dancing with Fleur Delacour, last I saw. She sent Roger Davies off to find drinks. The poor girl's feet are all bruised." 

Sure enough, Harry went whirling by with the French tart, who seemed happier than she'd been all night.

"Bloody hussy!" Ginny growled, staring after the blonde girl hatefully. 

She started looking around for someone to dance with--like hell she was going to sit on the sidelines while her Harry was being seduced by a blonde veela hussy! She'd show him! She saw Michael Corner lurking by the punch bowl with a reddened cheek. She didn't see Carly Bucket anywhere. She marched off towards him and put on her best smile.

"Want to dance?"  
Michael Corner looked her up and down very slowly and downed his punch. "Yeah, alright." 

They danced a bit, Ginny keeping an eagle eye out for Harry, but she didn't see him anywhere. Visions of Harry and Fleur ensconced in a broom closet somewhere cascaded through her mind in a fevered pitch and she was hard pressed to keep from crying. 

The song ended and Professor McGonagall held up her hands from her place on the dais as a group of musicians began setting up behind her.

"Students, as a special treat tonight, we are happy to present the Wyrd Sisters!"

The students went wild and started cheering, and then the band began to play a fast rock tune. All around her the crowd surged and the students began jumping and gyrating and belting out the lyrics with abandon. She firmed her jaw, blinked away her tears and threw herself into the music and pushed closer to Michael, who leered at her rather charmingly and grabbed hold of her. 

 

"You're just a dancing fool tonight, aren't you?"

Harry downed a cup of punch and then dished up another, before turning to face the morose girl who had addressed him.

"Well, it is a ball. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

He studied the girl--Kelly Murphy, a fifth year Slytherin. 

"You alright there?"

"Do I look alright?" she snarled back.

"Balls not to your liking? Where's your date, anyway? Doesn't he know it's bad manners, leaving you standing at the refreshment table like this?"

Kelly snorted rather bitterly and downed another glass of punch. 

"Last I saw him he had his tongue shoved down Amanda Boot's throat. It turns out he's fancied her for ages but didn't have the guts to say anything. Of course, she was dating Terence Higgs at the time as well, so it might not have mattered if he had. Lucky me, I drew the jerk's name out of a bowl…great idea, by the way" she added with scathing sarcasm. 

"You don't need to tell me" Harry scoffed as he got himself another cup of punch, and then filled Kelly's cup as well when she held it out. "I got stuck with my number one fangirl who thinks we're destined soulmates."

"We're talking about me right now." Kelly interjected. "So here I am, looking fabulous, ready to enjoy a wonderful night….and then Terence Higgs and Amanda Boot get into a fight that leaves her crying and looking all delicately pathetic…"

"And your date jumped on the chance to weasel his way into her good graces?"

"Got it in one. You should be an auror." 

"So why didn't you just go grab Higgs?"

"The reason they were fighting is because he's been seeing Maysie Selwyn on the side."

"So, why didn't you grab her date, whoever he was?"

"He just shrugged when she wandered off, sat himself down with some of his mates to talk quidditch. Seems he's relieved he doesn't have to dance anymore."

"Ah."

"So…where's your soulmate?"

"Last I saw her she wandered off with Michael Corner."

"They just don't make soulmates like they used to."

Harry snickered and refilled both their cups again. 

"So…you wanna make out?"

Harry blinked and looked at Kelly in surprise.

"Yeah, alright."

They both downed their punch. Kelly started towards the garden, but Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the exit to the great hall.

"I know a much better place." 

Kelly shrugged and stumbled a bit before catching herself by grabbing hold of Harry's arm. Harry wavered a bit on his feet.

"Is it just me or is the room swimming a bit?"

"It's not just you."

 

"Ginny?"

Ginny pulled away from Michael Corner's lips with a wet sucking sound and blinked blearily at Hermione who was standing a short distance away, arms crossed and tapping her foot like a disapproving mother. 

"I think that's quite enough." she sniffed before pulling Ginny from Michael's grasp and sending her staggering down the hall towards Gryffindor. Michael glowered at her before sneering and sauntering off towards Ravenclaw. Hermione watched him go with narrowed eyes, before setting off after Ginny, who was staggering and weaving her way down the hall. 

"Were you drinking punch?"

"I had a couple."

"How many is a couple?" Hermione demanded worriedly.

"Four or five…or six. I don't remember. Why?"

"Your idiot twin brothers spiked it. Where's Harry anyway?"

Ginny sniffled and then started sobbing like her heart was breaking. She staggered a few more steps and then sank down into a heap in the middle of the hallway.

Hermione sighed and sat down on the floor next to her, rubbing her back.

It took some doing, but she finally coaxed her back to her feet and got her moving towards Gryffindor again. She hauled her onto the nearest staircase, which, unfortunately, started moving when they were halfway up it. Ginny started to look rather green.

"I don't feel so good."

"Oh no…" Hermione jumped back just in time to miss Ginny being violently sick all over the staircase. 

"You are so lucky I'm a good friend." she sighed, before moving behind her to hold her hair till she was done.


	8. Tug of war

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students head home for winter vacation

"Ow. Bloody hell. My head." 

"Alright there, Ron?"

"Why does my head hurt? All I drank last night was the bloody punch."

"Somebody spiked it. Here, this should help."

"Typical."

"Ugh. You got any more of that there, mate?" Seamus groaned from nearby.

"Look on the nightstand there."

"Cheers, mate. You're a lifesaver." 

"Are all of you leaving today?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did any of you think to pack?"

"Huh?"

Neville, Dean, Seamus and Ron slowly sat up, looked at each other, and then around at the disaster area that was their dorm room and then cursed, tumbling out of bed to start packing. 

Harry watched them scramble and shook his head, before heading out to breakfast.

 

When he made it down to the great hall, he found Hermione already there and eating breakfast. There weren't many people down, and most of those who were seemed to be nursing sore heads.

Harry seated himself and began dishing up breakfast, but then noted that Hermione was glaring at him stonily.

"Good morning, Hermione. Something on your mind?"

"You're a cad."

"Really? And why is that?"

"You abandoned Ginny. She got drunk and ended up sucking face with Michael Corner!"

"I'm not Miss Weasley's keeper. If you'll recall, she had three older brothers at the ball. I escorted her, sat through dinner and danced the first few sets with her. I hardly forced her to wander off with Michael Corner. She could have done like I did and danced with a variety of people, you know. I hardly think that makes me a cad."

"As her date you should have escorted her from the ball as well!" 

"She'd already gone by the time I thought to look for her. Maybe next time she's at such a function she'll know better than to wander off with boys that have already been abandoned by one girl for getting fresh."

"What are you…?"

"Carly Bucket. She didn't appreciate the way he kept staring down the front of her dress, or his wandering hands. I've heard it around that the Hufflepuffs have issued a hit on him." Harry snickered. 

"Where were you last night anyway? You were all over the place and then you disappeared…is that a hickey!?"

Harry eyed her a moment and then transfigured a nearby spoon into a small mirror and checked his reflection. Sure enough there was a small hickey that was just high enough to not be completely hidden by his collar. He checked the rest of his neck but didn't find any more. A quick charm hid the evidence from view.

"Just who were you with last night?"

"Why? So you and Ginny can send them cursed hate mail?"

Hermione blinked at him and her mouth shut with a click before she recovered her aplomb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Save it for someone who believes you." 

"Ginny was really upset last night, you know."

"Maybe that will be the push she needs to get over her delusion that she and I are soul mates."

"Well…yeah, I'll admit the soul mate thing is a little… She just reads too many stupid romance novels. She really cares about you."

"She doesn't know the first thing about me. She's a fan girl. I've always been careful to not encourage her interest in any way. It's not my fault she can't take a hint. Now, drop it."

"But she's…"

"Enough! For god's sake! Tell me, Hermione, how do you feel about…I dunno, Draco Malfoy?"

"What does that have to..."

"Just answer the question."

"I don't know. I'm fairly indifferent to him, I guess."

"Alright. Let's say he had a major crush on you. Would you feel that you were required to date him because of it?"

"What? No!"

"So why is it any different for me? I'm sorry she was upset, but she needs to learn to take a hint. Sometimes you like people and they don't feel the same way in return. It happens. You get over it, move on. It happens to everyone at least once in their lives, no biggie--however disappointing it may be at the time, and that's all I have to say on the subject." 

Hermione nearly argued further, but there was a glint in Harry's eye that told her he really wasn't in the mood.

The rest of their yearmates trickled down over the next hour. Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville made it down just before breakfast was over. They all hurriedly made themselves egg and bacon sandwiches, just in time for the food to disappear from the tables. They all groaned, and began stuffing them down as they slumped their way towards the door to head back upstairs to get their luggage for the long trip home.

 

"You're quiet today, Ginny."

"Leave her alone." Hermione sniffed, glaring at Neville who was rather taken aback. Ginny for her part just stayed curled up in a tiny ball of misery in the corner of the carriage, pointedly not looking at Harry.

"I'm surprised you're able to show your face anywhere, what with being a traitor and all." Ron muttered.

Hermione stiffened and turned to glare at Ron.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You've got some nerve, sitting with decent people after you betrayed us. What were you thinking? Bad enough he's a ruddy dark wizard, he's also a rival champion!"

"There's nothing wrong with me going on a date with Viktor! And you're one to talk! Padma Patil! You should be ashamed of yourself, sinking so low!" 

"At least Padma is a Hogwarts student. She's also not a dark witch, and she's a bestselling author!"

"You're unbelievable Ronald Weasley!"

"Ugh." Ginny whimpered as Ron and Hermione's voices rose. The bickering pair took no notice of her. Neville and Harry sighed and sunk down in their seats. As Hermione's voice reached a particularly shrill note, Harry winced and put up a barrier to block the sounds of their argument.

"So, Nev…have fun last night?" Harry asked as blessed silence settled in their part of the carriage. By the look of things, he'd put up the barrier none too soon. Ron and Hermione were both half out of their seats, red faced and grimacing, and looked to be shouting for all they were worth.

"Yeah, I did. Hannah and I danced all night, it was great. I think the only person who got back to the dorm later than me was you. Where'd you vanish off to anyway?"

"Oh, I was around. I probably danced with every girl I know at least once. That takes a lot out of a guy." Harry answered evasively. 

"You know, Ginny looks really sick. Do you have any more hangover cures?"

"No. I only had enough for myself and all of us in the dorm. I don't even have any headache potions left. I ended up handing most of those out to stressed out Ravenclaws during exam week." 

"We're here. Thank goodness." Neville sighed as they pulled in at the station. 

Hermione grabbed her trunk and Ginny's arm once they'd alighted and flounced off with her in tow after sending a scathing glare Ron's way. Ron, whose face was still red and angry, kicked the wheels on the carriage and stood glowering at the ground once they'd left. 

"Best get your trunk." Neville reminded him as he and Harry started towards the train. 

They saw Hermione and Ginny in a compartment, but they both looked pissed off, and Ginny looked ready to throw up on top of that. They weren't too inclined to go in with them, even if the compartment hadn't been locked and warded within an inch of its life to keep people out.  
Ron, who was coming up behind them, tried the door and looked outraged when he couldn't get in. Hermione glared, stuck her nose in the air and looked out the window as though she didn't see him there. Ron growled and kicked the door several times before stomping off deeper into the train, dragging his trunk and cursing under his breath.   
Neville and Harry exchanged a glance and sighed. They both had the feeling it was going to be a long ride home. 

 

They had been on the train for about two hours when they heard a commotion outside.

"What now?" Neville griped. Ron had only just stopped moaning and groaning about Hermione twenty minutes ago. 

Harry stuck his head out the door, yelped and hurriedly pulled it back inside, slamming the door closed as he did. He, Ron and Neville all jumped as a spell impacted the glass inches from Harry's face and then the door grew a rack of antlers and donkey ears. 

"Well, that's not something you see every day." Ron said faintly.

"Help me ward the door." Harry snapped "There's a huge battle going on outside. By the look of it, it's been going on for a while. I'm guessing it spread here from another car. There was about ten people out there all throwing hexes."

Between the three of them, they made quick work of locking and warding the door--none too soon, either, as the battle had either just gotten bigger, or had simply travelled down to their area of the train.   
Ron yelped as several hexes impacted on the door and window, one of which made the glass crack. 

"Shite!" Neville squeaked. He repaired the glass, Harry added a few more layers of protection and then sat down on the floor between the seats. Ron and Neville did the same a beat later.   
Harry dug out his phone. Seeing this, Neville followed suit. They started calling their friends on the train to see if anyone knew what was going on.

 

They weren't sure how much time had passed when they noticed the train was slowing down.

"We shouldn't be at King's Cross already…" Ron muttered. 

"They might be pulling in at another station so we can be boarded or something." Neville pointed out. "I'm sure word has gotten out by now that there's a battle going on."

"Either of you find out what it's all about?"

"Not really. Everyone with sense is barricaded in their compartments like we are. There's a couple of first years missing, but no one seems to know if they're hiding elsewhere or got caught up in the battle. It seems to be all students involved--we haven't been attacked or anything. That's all anyone seems to know." Neville sighed. 

"So…do we get out or do we just stay here?"

"Stay here. We don't know who all is fighting, we don't know why they're fighting, and there's too many hexes being flung around. I have no desire to spend the remainder of the holiday in St. Mungos getting spell damage removed." Harry scoffed. 

"Yeah, I guess. It just seems kinda cowardly hiding out like we are."

"Being Gryffindor doesn't mean we're required to jump into every fight that comes along. We don't know what's going on. We might end up helping people we don't agree with by accident or something." Neville pointed out. 

"Yeah, mate. We're supposed to be 'brave and chivalrous', not reckless and stupid. In spite of what Slytherins may say to the contrary there is a difference." 

"We seem to have stopped. Unfortunately, we're on the wrong side of the train. Hopefully the folks on the station side can find out what's going on."

"And hopefully they'll remember to fill the rest of us in. I hope this doesn't take too long. This ride takes the whole damned day even when we're on schedule." 

Ron stood and peered out the window, which was still sporting antlers and donkey ears, as well as several splashes of green goo, trying to see into the hallway. 

"Anything?"

"There's folks moving around out there, but I can't see enough to tell who they are or what they're doing." he finally answered after twisting this way and that for several minutes.

"It should be safe enough to get back on the seats." 

"Good. The floor isn't very comfortable. I think I sat in gum too." 

"A good scourgify should take care of that."

"Can you cast it? About a third of the time I end up putting holes in things when I try it."

"I wish the cart lady had come around before all this happened. I'm starving." 

All three of them jumped in fright when someone pounded on the door. 

"Aurors. Open up." 

"Uh….hold on a bit."

The three boys scrambled to take down their wards, all the while the aurors kept pounding on the door. They could hear other doors being pounded on further down the hall.   
Finally the last of the wards went down and they opened the door into a scene of devastation. 

"Holy moly."   
"Bloody hell." 

"You can say that again."

"Holy moly"  
"Bloody hell."

"Yes, very amusing." The hard-faced auror said gruffly. "Do you mind telling me what happened here?"

"No idea. We were hoping you could tell us." 

The auror sighed. By the look of things, it had already been a long night, and he was currently hating his job.

"Alright. How about you tell me what you do know."

"We heard a commotion. I peeked out to see what was going on and nearly got hexed. We barricaded the door and sat on the floor so we'd be below casting height and we waited for someone to take care of things."

"I see. Thank you for your help. Why don't you get back inside. The train should be back underway shortly."

"Hey, do you know if the cart lady is alright? It's just, she never came around."

"As far as I know, she's fine. I'm sure she'll be happy to know you were concerned."

"Oh…yeah…I guess. I actually was hoping I'd be able to get something to eat. It's been awhile since breakfast." Ron answered sheepishly.

The auror just looked at him, sighed and moved on to the next compartment.

 

It was nearly eleven by the time they finally pulled in to King's Cross station. It took longer than usual for everyone to disembark as the train was mobbed by angry and worried parents when they pulled in.   
Ron stood to leave, and looked at Harry and Neville askance when they just continued sitting there.

"Aren't you gonna get off?"

"And head out into that?" Neville scoffed. "No thanks. I'll wait till the platform clears a bit."

"Oh, yeah…maybe I should…"

"GINNY! FRED! GEORGE! RON! WHERE ARE YOU!" a woman's shriek echoed over the cacaphony on the platform. 

Ron flinched and hunkered into himself even as his face went red. "Muuuum!" he moaned pitifully. 

"I guess you'd best get out there." 

Ron sighed and hung his head as he shuffled out into the crowded hallway.  
Harry and Neville glanced at the window. They couldn't even open it while they waited; there was a whole mass of people right up against it.   
It was nearly forty five minutes after they'd pulled in when the platform had cleared enough for Harry and Neville to consider it safe to venture out.  
They were pounced on as soon as they stepped off the train. 

"Harry! Thank goodness! We were beginning to think you were one of the ones sent off to St. Mungos! What the hell happened?"

"Dunno. There was a fight or something and it grew out of control. No one really told us much, and we were barricaded in our compartment through most of the ride." 

"Well, let's go. I'm sure Adeline is frantic by now. I left to get you three hours ago." 

 

When they arrived back at Grimmauld Place, they found Adeline, belly swollen with pregnancy, sound asleep in a chair in the parlor. She startled awake when they arrived and hauled herself out of her seat with some difficulty.

"There you are! What time is it? What took so long?"

"The train was delayed. There was a fight or something. Some of the participants had to be portkeyed to St. Mungo's."

She gasped and looked Harry up and down.

"Are you alright? Who started it?"

"I'm fine."

"He and his friends barricaded themselves in their compartment." Sirius scoffed.

Adeline smacked him in the arm.

"Which was the right thing to do." she growled. "I'm glad you're alright." she added pointedly to Harry.

"Ditto here." Harry chuckled. "I think I'm gonna head up to bed."

"Don't you even want to see what we brought you back from Australia?"

"You brought me something? Sweet. I think I'll still save it for morning. I was on that bloody train all day."

"Language."

"Fine, be that way." Sirius pouted. "Hopefully, come morning, you can also explain to us why our ballroom is full of a whole slew of crap."

"Huh?"

"One of Lucy's house elves popped over with the stuff the day after we all got back. He said his precious dark lord sent him shopping while they were in Japan, but when he tried to give him the stuff he said it was for you. He says you owe him money."

"Ah. I'm glad he remembered. I'll take care of it, but not now." 

"It is rather late. We should all head up to bed." Adeline agreed, yawning.

"What's all that stuff even for?" Sirius whined as they started up the stairs.

"It's for my vacation house."  
"Vacation…what vacation house!"

"It's not built yet. I was going to do that when we got to the new world. In fact, I'm probably going to need help to build it. Thanks for volunteering."

"Harry…"

"What? If you expect me to let you stay there at Marauder's Cove, you're going to have to help me build. Don't worry, we won't be alone. I plan on making good use of the interns once we're settled."

"Interns?" Adeline sighed.

"From the corporation. We don't have any yet, but I'm sure we'll have people jumping at the chance once we've got everything settled. We'll be offering a pretty sweet deal, after all."

"Go to bed." Sirius grumbled as they reached the third floor. Harry saluted them both rather jauntily and continued up the next floor to his room.

"Brat." 

Adeline just sighed and patted his shoulder. 

 

Sirius and Adeline found Harry in the ballroom cataloguing the piles of stuff he'd apparently sent the young dark lord to purchase for him. There was a book, one of the ones said dark lord had gotten him for his birthday Sirius noted sourly, following him, along with an animated quill. It seemed to be checking off items on a list as he inspected the merchandise. 

"Okay, it's morning. Talk."

"Just a second…" Harry answered absently as he counted boxes. "Hmmm…I really hope I got enough…"

"Harry."

The quill checked off another item, and then went still as Harry gathered it and the notebook up.

"I explained yesterday. I'm going to build a vacation house in the new world."

"How about we all get breakfast and you can explain at length." Adeline ordered, shooing both of them towards the dining room. 

Sirius allowed him to eat a bit before resuming the interrogation. 

"I don't see what further explanation is really needed."

"Vacation house, interns…I could go on."

"You know about the corporation I and some of my friends started, right? Well, because of the move, we had to rework a lot of our long term plans. We decided at the last board meeting that we'd be best off waiting until we got to the new world and then cranking things into high gear. There'll be a lot of work needing to be done in the new world. One of the things we have planned is an internship program. It's going to be primarily offered to muggleborns that find themselves orphaned by the move. Lestrange castle is going to be corporate headquarters. If all goes as planned, it should settle into place on an island off the coast of the peninsula where we'll be settling. We're going to set up some plantations, a resort, some shops and restaurants, and if all goes well, a village. It's a pretty good sized island, and falls right into the tropical zone. I thought since my company is going to be right there, it was a perfect spot for a vacation house too. I have the perfect place already picked out. There's a cove with a private beach. Obviously, since the house I have planned doesn't exist yet, it won't just settle into place when we move. It's going to have to be built. I've been planning it since I was in the other world, though obviously most of the planning didn't really happen till I arrived back. I have the bulk of what will be needed to start construction already set aside. The stuff I asked Tom to get me is stuff I wasn't able to acquire in bulk around here. I've also been having the art club do commissions for me. I supplied materials and told them what I wanted, they made it. They got practice, and have stuff to put in their portfolio, and I get pretty stuff for my house and bragging rights on having portions of the décor done by up and coming artists. Not to mention said artists get free advertising. Anyone who comes to the house and likes what they see, well, I can point them towards the artist. Considering my friends in the other world have clan chiefs and royalty among their number, that's no small thing. I wouldn't doubt at least a few of the kids from the artists' studio will find themselves with wealthy patrons before too long."

"It sounds like you really put a lot of thought into this." 

"I've been sort of tossing it around in the back of my mind ever since we did the house building contest."

"That's why you wanted all that stuff from Japan." Adeline realized, thinking back to the model house Harry had made. It was on display in Sirius' study. 

"Yep."

"I can't believe you got the bloody dark lord to act as your personal shopper."

"What's the big deal? He delegated it anyway." 

Further talk was curtailed as the morning mail arrived. Adeline grabbed her copy of Witch Weekly, Sirius and Harry their papers. Harry also received a bill from Lucius Malfoy for all the stuff he'd ended up buying him in Japan.

"These pictures taken from the Yule ball are lovely."

"Huh?" Harry replied distractedly. He glanced up and saw Adeline was showing her magazine to Sirius. 

"There's pictures from the Yule ball? I don't remember there being any reporters there."

"Yes, see?"

"Those are pictures Colin took. And those there are ones Morag took. Well, good on them. I didn't know they'd sold any of them to the press. I wonder if the champions will be peeved though. They paid for those pictures to be taken. It might not sit well with them having them sold to others as well. I'll have to have a word with them about that."

"They paid to have pictures taken of themselves? This whole tournament thing is going to their heads." Sirius scoffed.

"Not just them, everyone. The photography club offered it. If you pay a bit extra you can get a commemorative frame as well."

"Did you get any?"

"Yeah, commemorative frame and a copy of all three poses. I got Ginny one as well." 

"So, changed your mind on the saucy little redhead, did you? What did I tell you, kiddo. I did say you'd change your mind in a few years."

"She pulled my name out of a bowl."

"Uh… Wow, they really do things differently these days." 

"We're going to need to clear your stuff out of the ballroom." 

"Oh, right…we're hosting the new year's ball this year, aren't we? I guess I should get another set of dress robes; the ones I have I just wore to the Yule ball."

"Actually, you'll need a costume. We thought we'd try something different this year. It's going to be a masked ball. You can either do dress robes and a mask or go the distance and wear a costume--we decided to leave that up to the individual."

"Hmm. I'll have to think about it, I guess. I can clear out the ballroom after breakfast and take the stuff to my house and store it along with the rest of the building materials."  
"I'd like to see the rest of these building materials."

"They're all sealed away. There's nothing much to see at the moment but a lot of big scrolls. You can see everything when it's unpacked so we can get building. I have a couple of tree trunks--house elves are so damn useful-- a bunch of cut planks in different sizes, all kinds of stuff." 

"I can't wait." Sirius answered dryly. "I'm sure it will be a real adventure." 

 

"That's the last of it." Harry sighed as he rolled up the last of the sealing scrolls he'd just packed his purchases into.

"You are the strangest teenager I've ever known. You know that, right?"

"I prefer to think of myself as unique."

Sirius snorted and scooped one of the scrolls off the ground and unrolled it, to study the neatly inked seals that ran down the center length. "Where did you learn to do that anyway?"

"An Asian guy I met when I was a kid. Ancient Chinese secret and all that."

"Would this be the same Asian guy that taught you martial arts?"

"Yep."

"Do I ever get to meet this guy?"

"He's not around here. He lives really far away."

"Oh. Went home, huh? Too bad, I wanted to meet him. What was his name?"

"Sarutobi Asuma." Harry answered promptly. He had been the main sensei at the ninja academy during the period Harry had been visiting.

Harry held out his hand for the scroll, which Sirius rolled back up and handed over. 

"Weird name."

"We ready to go?"

"Looks like it. Let's go."

They headed outside, where Sirius grasped Harry's arm and apparated the two of them to just outside the gates of the keep. 

Sirius ambled in after Harry and looked around curiously as he followed him into the keep, and then down the stairs to where the kitchen, potions lab, infirmary, store rooms and elf quarters were. Sirius peeked into the various store rooms as they passed and whistled in shock at the sheer number of scrolls that were packed into hundreds of cubby holes on every wall, and the stacks of canned goods and dry goods in large sacks, barrels and canisters that filled the available space on the floor in each.

"So what's all this other stuff?" Sirius wondered.

"These rooms here are all food, mostly."

"That's all food?"

"Yeah. I don't like being hungry."

Sirius' face darkened at the reminder of his early life with the Dursleys. 

"This room here is various useful necessities, as well as seeds for everything I could think of. The seeds in here are all food related. Seeds for potions ingredients and ornamental trees and plants are in the last room with my building supplies."

He led them into the building supplies storeroom and Sirius shook his head at the sheer number of scrolls that were there as well. The back wall was covered with dozens of very large scrolls, one after another, each taking up its own cubby by itself, in contrast to the food storage scrolls which were generally much smaller. As he watched, Harry unpacked the scrolls he'd just prepared and started loading them into the right hand wall which was still mostly empty. He wandered towards the left wall and unrolled a few of the scrolls there to look at them. They each had the same row of neatly inked seals down the center, though he noted the symbol in the center of each seal was different than those on the ones he'd just made.

"What are all these?"

"Commissions from the art club. It's mostly painted screens, fancy shelves, that sort of thing. I don't really want to unpack them until they're ready to be installed. You can see everything when the house is built."

Sirius took the hint and put the scroll he was perusing back.

"What is your insistence on building this house anyway?"

"I thought it would be a nice change from this place. Don't get me wrong, I love this place, but it is still a couple of stone towers with thick walls and few windows. The summer house is going to be very open to nature, and very minimalist. Don't worry though, I considered the fact that you and Remus and all might be too old and creaky to spend hours sitting on the floor since you're not used to it. My design plan incorporates a few rooms that will hold furniture as well as the more traditional tatami mat rooms where you sit on the floor."

"Old and creaky!" Sirius spluttered.

"Can you comfortably sit on the floor for any length of time?"

"Uh, yeah. What the hell do you think I did all those years in Azkaban? That said, I don't really want to do it again if I don't have to."

"You're still going to have to sleep on the floor. There'll be beds, so don't worry about that, but they'll be on the floor and packed away when they're not being used. Like I said, minimalist."

"You're definitely a weird kid."

Harry stuck out his tongue at him.

 

Harry's phone rang and his heart skipped a beat. He pulled it out and answered, aiming for cool and collected. He'd not spoken to Tom since Hogsmeade weekend.

"Harry darling! How are things?"

"Oh, hey Pans. How are you?"

"Well, that's an enthusiastic greeting."

"Sorry, I was distracted is all. Miss me so much already? I'm touched, honestly." Harry answered with a bit more cheer after forcefully banishing his disappointment. 

"That's better. I thought you might like an update on the great train massacre."

"Massacre? Don't tell me some of those dumbasses that were fighting died?"

"Died? Who died?" Sirius demanded.

"Sadly, no. Several were hexed within an inch of their lives, but there were no fatalities."

"No one apparently, it was a figure of speech." Harry answered in aside to Sirius.

"You must be talking to a Slytherin. Only Slytherins use people dying as a way to spice up conversation."

"That's not actually true. Ron and Seamus both tend to go on about disembowelment when they're really ticked at someone."

"Hello! You're supposed to be talking to me." Pansy complained.

"Sorry, love. I was defending your honor."

"Nice try, but I was able to hear you."

"I was doing so in my heart."

"Uh huh."

"So, train massacre. What did you find out?"

"The Weasels were in the middle of it. Apparently Carly Bucket and some of her friends paid the twins off to hex Michael Corner for getting fresh with her at the ball. They were happy enough to take on the job, and they gave him donkey ears and a tail, as well as a couple of big teeth and went on their way. Sadly, they overheard some idiots talking later about how they were surprised they went so easy on the guy considering it was their little sister and all. They were confused and demanded clarification. It seems they didn't hear he'd gotten her drunk and had his wicked way with her."

"I thought the twins spiked the punch? That's what I heard anyway."

"Oh, they did, most sources seem to agree on that. They seem to have overlooked this little fact when they decided to go get Corner again. Their friends tried to stop them, but they got away and went looking for Corner. Everyone seems a little unclear about how exactly the big brawl started, but it seems it just sort of escalated as people got hit with stray hexes and started jumping in to retaliate, and then the prefects all got involved and things escalated further…and then girl Weasel found out her brothers were going after her new boy toy and she got involved as well and started hexing everyone in sight, as she's prone to do." 

"Tch. Typical. If all three of them were in the middle of that I'm glad I barricaded the door. The twins are a law unto themselves, and I've seen the aftermath of too many of Ginny's bat bogey rampages to want to be on the receiving end." 

"I know, right. Well, that's the sitch. In other news, did you perchance see the photo spread in Witch Weekly?"

"Yeah, Adeline gets it, which reminds me, I intend to have a word with Colin and the others. On the one hand, it's great that they're selling photos to the mass media, but on the other hand, the champions may be peeved since they paid for those photos and didn't give permission, so far as I know, for them to be used. It's unprofessional and may end up not being worth whatever they might have made on the sale."

"Hmm, yes, I didn’t really think of it like that. It doesn't do any of us any good if it ends up being bad for business."

"Yeah, that was my thought as well."

"So you're all hosting this year's New Year's bash, right?"

"Yup. It's going to be a masked ball."

"Oooh. Mother didn't mention that part. I need to get hopping. I don't have a mask. I don't even know what I'm going to wear!"

"I'm sure whatever you get will be fabulous."

"Well that goes without saying." 

"Was there anything else, love? I was sort of in the middle of doing something when you called."

"Hmmm…no, I think that was everything for the moment."

"Alright. I'll see you at the party then."

"Ta, darling."

"Bye." 

Sirius waggled his eyebrows when Harry hung up the phone. "Darling, love? New girlfriend? You've been holding out in me!"

"That was Pansy. She's Draco's girlfriend."

"Does he know you've been carrying on with his girlfriend behind his back?"

"He was sitting right there. I could hear him talking nearby."

"You kids really do do things differently."

 

"Yo! Kiddo! It's almost time. Get your arse in gear!"

"I'll be right down!" Harry yelled as he put the last finishing touches on his robes. He was dressed as a dragon, well, sort of. His robes were blue and green and had a pattern that looked vaguely like scales, and the sleeves of the robe were long and looked vaguely winglike if he had his arms spread. A stylized dragon faced mask topped it off. He studied his reflection for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out. 

Last he'd heard, Tom was expected at the ball and would be arriving with the Malfoys later. It would be the first time he'd seen him since the disastrous end to their not-a-date in Hogsmeade. He knew he shouldn't have been so surprised by the abrupt end to their not-a-date; Tom Riddle had been pretty much asexual the first time around, and once he'd made the horcruxes he'd been even more so.   
It was probably rather disconcerting to be dealing with hormones and puberty at 70. 

He understood that Tom still had issues, for all that he seemed to function just fine most of the time, but the fact remained that he'd been hurt by his behavior.  
While a large part of Harry wanted to grab hold of Tom when next he saw him and drag him off so they could pick up where they left off, the rest of him refused. He had too much pride for one, and for another--he didn't want to give him the idea that he could just be flung away and retrieved whenever it suited his fancy. Tom was going to have to decide it was what he wanted and make the effort to win him back. He'd never appreciate him otherwise. Should he decide he wanted nothing more to do with him… He'd be hurt, he'd be disappointed, he would always wonder what if…but he'd survive. 

Resolved at last, he dug out a calming draught and drank it down and then called up his meditation quiet place before heading downstairs to help greet their guests as they arrived.

Downstairs was decorated with a winter theme--there were evergreen trees, snow and icicles everywhere, all of which sparkled and refracted the decorative lights that had been worked into the décor. The whole place not only looked, but smelled wonderful as well. There was food and drinks laid out on long buffet tables in the parlor, and trays of appetizers in the rooms nearest to the ballroom. People had already started to arrive by the sound of it. Harry hurried his steps to where Sirius and Adeline were waiting, greeting guests as they arrived, and slipped his mask on while he did so. He'd obviously spent more time mooning over Tom than he'd realized. He slipped into place just as another group arrived and smiled as he started shaking hands and kissing them. He'd gotten there none too soon by the looks of it. More groups were arriving every minute and the guests were starting to form a line. The three of them did their best to greet everyone and move them along quickly so they'd not block the floo. 

He had arrived just in time to greet Pansy and her family. Pansy's father was in blue velvet, heavily encrusted with embroidery everywhere. Pansy's mother was in a poofy white gown covered in lace and ruffles, and laden in diamonds, Pansy herself was wearing a froofy mass of pink ruffles and lace, topped off with a pink and white feathered mask. She looked rather like a giant walking cupcake, and her mother a wedding cake, though he wasn't going to tell her that. 

Harry caught a flash of white-blonde hair towards the back of the line, which meant the Malfoy family. He was glad now for the calming draught he'd taken or his heart would likely be pounding now. He firmed up his meditation quiet place and kept his smile bland and friendly. 

"Lucius, Cissy, Draco. nice to see you all again." he heard Sirius greet them cheerfully. "Roman emperor, huh?"

"And you're a pirate. How…charming."

"Boys, let's not fight." Narcissa sighed.

Harry forced himself to not turn and look and stayed focused on the guy in front of him, Ezekiel Smith and his wife Laura. They were aunt and uncle to Zacharias Smith who was in his year in Hufflepuff. He didn't much like Zacharias, and didn't like Ezekiel and Laura much better, but Ezekiel was the manager of Black Publishing, and so he got an automatic invite to any parties the Blacks threw. In his defense, he was an able manager, and the publishing house had always done well in the time he'd been running it. He was still a boorish, arrogant berk so far as Harry was concerned. 

He kept half an ear on Sirius' conversation with the Malfoy family while smiling and shaking hands and heard him ask "And who is this lovely young lady?" His insides froze when Tom's smooth baritone answered. "May I introduce you to the lovely Ekaterina Belyakova."

Harry's insides froze. Tom had brought a date.

He was suddenly thankful for the mask he was wearing as the Malfoy's came to a stop in front of him.

"Harry" Lucius greeted. "Hello Harry dear." Narcissa echoed a moment later. 

"Lucius, Narcissa, nice to see you again. You look radiant, by the way." Harry greeted, winning a pleased smile from Narcissa. He was really glad for his foresight in taking that calming draught now, because he was able to ask his next question without his voice betraying him in any way. "So, our mutual friend is dating now? He did mention you and Sirius were playing matchmaker."

Narcissa smiled conspiratorially. "The Belyakovas are an old Russian pureblood family. Ekaterina's grandfather married a Black years ago, so she's actually a distant cousin of ours. With a pedigree like that she's eminently suitable to be a future dark lady." she whispered.

"I told him everyone would be happier this time around were he to get married. I'm glad he's finally listening." Lucius whispered a moment later before they slipped off into the ballroom to start mingling.

"Harry."

"Draco. I like the whole Roman theme you all went with."

"And you're a dragon. I would have liked to have been a dragon, or a pirate, but my parents insisted we match."

"You look good, and there will be other parties. Pansy arrived a little before you did. Just look for the pink."

Draco smiled and sauntered off, and then just like that, Tom was standing in front of him, looking distant, inscrutable and vaguely bored. He was dressed in red and gold and wearing a phoenix mask. Harry steeled himself to take a good look at his date. She was tall, taller than he was by a good two inches, auburn-haired and with angular grey eyes, and full pouting lips. She was dressed like a Tsarina of old--crown and veil, laden in jewels, in a white dress stiff with gold embroidery that had a long train behind it. An orange sash bisecting her chest at a slant completed the outfit. She eyed him with the sort of cool disdain that was the sign of a born aristocrat--only someone raised from infancy to believe they were intrinsically better than everyone around them could really pull it off--and held out her hand with the air of someone granting a great honor. Harry took her hand and gave a very slight bow, but he didn't bother kissing her hand or gushing. 

"Mr. Riddle, Miss Belyakova, welcome to our home. Please enjoy yourselves." Harry greeted them both with cool politeness, giving them both a smile before turning to the next folks in line. Happily, it was someone he knew and liked. 

"Barty! How have you been?" he greeted with warm and enthusiasm. He could feel Tom's eyes on him, all but drilling into the side of his head by the feel of it, and the woman's bristling affront at being so quickly dismissed. She sniffed tugged Tom's arm and drug him away to join the crowd on the dance floor.

Barty and Nymphadora watched the couple leave and eyed Harry curiously. "You say something to offend her?"

"I said welcome to our home, please enjoy yourselves. I don't know what her problem is."

"Weird."

"Yeah. Damn, Jade, look at you. You look like you swallowed a beach ball."

Dora's hair went from pink to green and she put a self-conscious hand on her swollen belly. "R-really?"

Barty thwapped him in the head and put a comforting arm around his wife. "Don't listen to el Brato here. You look lovely."

"Ow." Harry pouted. "And here I was all happy to see you too." 

Barty and Dora swept off after the other guests, leaving Harry to shake a few more hands of people he didn't know or barely did for several more minutes before another friendly face arrived. 

"Hey Remus. You decided to be a pirate too, huh?"

"Sirius' idea, original Marauders and all. He thought it was fitting." Remus replied with a wry smile.

"Um…no professor Burbage?"

Remus winced and his shoulders slumped.

"Charity and I argued about the move and the muggles and a whole lot of other things. She put in her notice the day after Christmas. The headmaster is rather peeved, as it leaves us without a muggle studies teacher for the remainder of the year."

"She quit? Because you had an argument?"

"She's decided to get a job in the muggle world."

"Just like that? She didn't even have the decency to wait till the end of the school year?"

Remus sighed despondently. "I guess you didn't hear about our visit here back in November?"

"I heard about some of it."

"She found the muggle world post separation to be marvelous, scientific and logical…and she was pleased by it. She decided it was what she wanted. She took the muggle studies position because she was trying to make our world more like the muggle world. Upon realizing it was never going to happen, she decided to leave."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"No you're not. Neither is Sirius, or Adeline, or Barty or Dora" Remus laughed bitterly.

"It might not seem like it now, but it may be for the best in the long run. Had she gone with us, feeling like that, you probably would have had to listen to her bitching about how awful, illogical and backwards everything was for the rest of your life. There are other women out there, and you'll find the right one someday. If you don't mind my saying so, you two never seemed suited."

"We got along quite well." Remus objected.

"So long as you didn't have any opinions, and always did what she wanted."

"She was strong willed."

Harry just looked at him, sighed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Enjoy the party, Remus. Don't sit brooding in a corner. Get a few drinks in you and ask some of the ladies to dance." 

Remus gave him a wan smile and wandered off into the crowd. 

The line of guests had finally thinned out. The last of them were headed his way. A happy smiled creased Harry's face.

"Xeno! Luna! Good to see you."

He wasn't sure what, if anything, they were supposed to be. They were each wearing an eclectic mix of colors and styles topped off with rainbow colored masks.

"How was your vacation in the Alps?"

"Oh it was marvelous! Well, except for that bit of bother with the erkling and the village children, but other than that…"

"We might have even gotten a new lead on the crumple-horned snorkack." Luna added cheerfully.

"Really? Good for you."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries and then Xeno wandered off towards the crowd. Harry gallantly offered his arm which Luna took with aplomb.

"What say we hit the buffet table? I've been greeting guests forever and my throat's a bit dry.

"Do you have any green beer?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Too bad. We had so much fun the last time we had it."

Harry snickered, recalling the rebellion they'd apparently sparked at the World cup. To this day he still only had the faintest, most foggy recollection of that night--vague images of crowds and bonfires and running through the night.

"That we did, that we did."

They made their way to the buffet table for a bit to eat and drink and then headed out to join the crowd on the dance floor.  
He could feel Tom's burning stare the entire time they were dancing. He ignored it as best he could. 

 

Eventually, the force of Tom's stare got to be too much. He gathered up some of his friends and they retreated to one of the drawing rooms with some snacks and mulled cider.

"I noticed Neville and Augusta aren't here."

"Yeah, they opted out. Neville's parents aren't quite ready to venture into public just yet, especially not a big party like this one. Now, whether they're really not ready, or Augusta is just afraid of some calamity befalling them, I don't know. I doubt Neville minds overmuch; he was kind of bitter about being forced to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. With that being the case, I doubt he wants to share them for the remainder of the holidays."

"Understandable." Millicent grunted as she tried to settle her breastplate more comfortably. She was dressed as a valkyrie; it seemed oddly fitting.

"Oh, hey, you know those pictures in Witch Weekly? I was talking to Tracy earlier, and she said she'd called Morag to find out how much they'd gotten for the pictures. She had no idea what she was talking about, so she called Colin and asked him. He had no idea either. He said they took the pictures, and then they and Dennis went back to the clubhouse and developed both their first rolls of film and then because it was getting late and they'd all be leaving in the morning, they tidied up and shut down for the night. The plan was to do the rest when we all got back to school."

"So neither one of them sold photos? And no one saw another photographer or Rita Skeeter running around?"

Everyone shook their heads no.

"I don't like the sound of this. I was going to have a talk with Colin about selling photos already paid for, but by the sound of it that isn't what happened."

"They could be lying."

"I haven't talked to either of them yet, and so they'd really have no reason to."

"Yeah, I don't think they're lying. If they had sold pictures, they probably would have been telling everyone about it and been all excited."

"Yeah, they would have."

"We're going to have to check out the photography club as soon as we get back to school."

"How troublesome."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'm ready to dance some more." Pansy chirped as she finished her cider. 

"Already?" Draco groaned. He was comfortable, damn it.

"Get moving, dear. It's time to boogie down."

One by one the rest of them climbed to their feet as well. 

"Coming Harry?"

"I'll be along in a bit."

"Suit yourself." 

The others put their masks back on and straightened their clothing, before heading back out to the ball. Harry waited till they all were gone and then slipped off towards the back of the house. It was cold outside, but the protective wards on the house tended to keep the temperature in the backyard relatively pleasant even in the depths of winter. A bit of fresh air might be just what he needed. 

 

Harry took a deep breath when he stepped outside and felt his shoulders unknot. 

The garden looked lovely in the moonlight--quite different from the tangled, dangerous jungle it had been when Sirius first took possession of the house, or the bare dirt patch it had been once the elves had cleared away the vegetation. Now it was a lovely place, filled with all manner of fragrant blooms, herb beds, and decorative trees, laid out so as to leave winding paths among the growth, and small sheltered nooks in which to take one's ease. At the center of the garden was a gazebo. A few times in summer, when the weather was nice, they'd taken meals out there. It was a pleasant place to while away an afternoon with a book, or to take a short break from tending the garden. At the far end of the garden, in the very back, were the greenhouses. Though they looked rather small from outside, they had each been magically expanded inside and held a great deal more than they'd seem capable of at first glance. Some of the more finicky magical plants used in potions were in the left greenhouse, while the right held a number of mundane plants--tea leaves, coffee beans, chocolate pods all ready for harvesting. As he stepped out onto the nearest garden path, he spotted a small lumpy gnome peering out from beneath one of the bushes, and saw several fairies fluttering among the branches of a tree a bit further on, small and slightly glowing, they would likely have been mistaken for fireflies by most, for all that it was very much the wrong time of year for them. 

The moon, which shone full overhead, gave plenty of light to see by, though it was aided here and there by stone lanterns filled with glow-bulbs that were positioned throughout the garden. 

He came at last to the clearing in which the gazebo rested and found his feet slowing to a halt as he reached the edge of the surrounding greenery. The gazebo was occupied. The man had his back to him, but he'd recognize him anywhere. He squinted into the shadows to see if that woman was there with him and simply hidden by his bulk. If he'd not only brought a date to the party, but taken her for a romantic moonlight stroll in his garden on top of it, he couldn't be held responsible for his actions… although it seemed Tom was actually alone. Small mercy. 

It looked like he wouldn't be getting the alone time and cleared head he'd been hoping for. He turned to leave, but had barely taken two steps when

"Harry?"

Harry stiffened slightly and dithered for a moment as he tried to decide what to do--flee, and pretend he hadn't heard him, or stay and pretend he was unaffected? He must have taken too long to decide, because Tom called to him a second time. He took a calming breath and turned to face the young dark lord. His mask was off and his red and gold robes with their flame motif were fluttering slightly in the breeze. The bright moonlight illuminated half his face and body, leaving the rest in deep shadow, until he stepped forward to the edge of the stairs leading into the gazebo. 

He was beautiful.

Not a word normally used to describe a man, but he was. He was an angel fallen to earth, there to tempt unsuspecting mortals with his fair face and beguiling smile. He suddenly felt stupid and awkward and wondered why he'd ever thought Tom Riddle would ever be interested in him--short, and scrawny, with his glasses, knobby knees and bird's nest hair. Yeah, that was a package sure to reel them in in droves.  
His depressing thoughts really weren't helping. He wanted nothing more than to just go find a quiet corner to lick his wounds in peace, but he'd already been caught out, and more to the point, he was no coward. 

"You're awfully quiet tonight."

"I wasn't expecting anyone to be out here."

"I remembered you showing me this place when I stayed here before the world cup. I thought it would be a nice place to take a moment to escape the party for a bit."

"Is our party not to your liking?"

"No, it's fine, it's just that I've just gotten back from an extended tour of Asia, where I was called upon to speak most every day to a new group of people, and in between talks, I attended dozens of parties much like this where I was expected to hobnob, answer questions and smooth ruffled feathers for hours at a time. What's more, I'll be leaving again before too long to do it all again through the Americas and Canada. I think I've simply gotten a bit burned out. All I can say is I'm glad the whole process is nearly done with; I'm quite looking forward to finishing up the whole ordeal and just getting to the new world already." 

"I'm not a fan of public speaking myself; happily I've never been called on to do it very often."

"Lucky you."

Harry made his way into the gazebo, moving to the left when Tom headed right. Tom turned to address him, and seemed a bit taken aback to see him on the far side of the gazebo from him, and he rubbed his hands on his robes in a move that, in anyone else, he'd have thought to indicate nervousness, before casually walking towards him.

"So…how have you been? I've not seen you in a while." 

"Fine. You?"

"I can't complain."

They both lapsed into silence, and for the first time since they'd met up in the Wan Shi Tong's library the silence was awkward and uncomfortable--at least, Harry thought it was. He found he quite missed the easy camaraderie they usually had.

"Is there a special reason you've left your mask on?"

"It's not supposed to come off till midnight."

"It's just the two of us out here."

"Mmm. I understand congratulations are in order."

"Congratulations? For what exactly?"

"Your upcoming nuptials."

"My what?" Tom demanded, his voice flat.  
"And your bride even came dressed as an empress to help get the word out-- not that a dark lady is a queen, but whatever."

Tom settled on the bench beside Harry with a thump. "I just met her earlier this afternoon."

Harry rose to his feet. "I should get back inside. It must be getting close to midnight by now."

"So soon? You've only be out here for a few minutes."

"I just wanted a breath of fresh air." 

"Harry…" Tom growled behind him, sounding annoyed. 

He ignored him and hurried his steps back to the house. He hadn't denied it. He was going to marry that snobby, horrid…..  
He slipped into the ballroom and into the crowd just in time for Sirius to call the crowd to order. 

"Quiet down, everyone! It's almost midnight! Get your drinks and get ready for the countdown!"

A large champagne pyramid appeared on a table at the center of the room, and the guests began cheerfully grabbing at the glasses and handing them out. 

"Oh, Harry, there you are. I was wondering where you'd disappeared to. I grabbed extra, here. It's not green beer, but I guess it will have to do." Harry took the extra champagne from Luna's hand just as Tom suddenly loomed up beside him.

"Why'd you run off like that?"

Ekaterina came pushing her way through the crowd towards them, with a stiff smile pasted on her face, though her eyes were blazing.

"Thomas, darling, there you are! I quite lost track of you in the crowd." she snarled, before gripping his arm and digging in with her nails. _"I don't know who you think you are, treating me in this shameful manner, but I won't stand for it. You may have gotten away with treating whatever lowborn harlots you've been involved with previously so carelessly, but I am a lady of quality and deserve better."_ she hissed the words quietly, but Harry was standing close enough to hear her. She snatched a glass of champagne out of the hand of a passing man, and sniffed dismissively when he looked ready to object.

"Here we go! 10…9…8…"

Tom pried Ekaterina's hand off his arm and squeezed it warningly. 

"7…6…5…"

Ekaterina's eyes flashed in fury even as she smiled a cold and determined smile.

4…3…2…1!"

Ekaterina threw her arms around Tom's neck and kissed him soundly, making sure to savagely bite his lower lip before she pulled away. She beamed at him as though she hadn't just bitten him and smiled up at him fatuously. "Happy new year, Thomas darling. May this be the first of many more." 

"Happy New Year!" 

The crowd cheered, streamers flew, friends embraced and masks were removed.

Ekaterina smiled smugly at Tom, she could see how furious he was, but she was confident he wouldn't dare do anything about it in the midst of the crowded party.

She lifted her champagne to take a drink, but somehow ended up missing her mouth and dumping the whole glass on herself, and then her feet went out from under her and she stumbled, losing her balance and crashing into an embracing couple behind her. 

"Goodness, how utterly shameful. I'm surprised her parents let her out in public if she carries on like this." Harry tutted. "It really was very kind of you to take pity on her. I wouldn't suggest doing so again though." 

Ekaterina had regained her footing and looked fit to be tied, so he gave another tug on her shadow and sent her staggering again.

Ekaterina was looking a bit worse for wear--her crown was askew, her sash had torn, and of course she reeked of alcohol, which made no one too inclined to listen to her protests that she wasn't drunk, really, someone had done something to her.   
Harry glanced down at Luna when she squeezed his arm. 

"I think you've done enough." she whispered quietly. "How did you do that thing with your shadow?"

"Training and a lot of practice."

"Do you give lessons?"

Harry hesitated, but Luna had some damn effective puppy-dog eyes.

"I'll consider it. Let's not talk about it here."

Harry stiffened when Tom suddenly threw a companionable arm over his shoulder and squeezed just a bit. "I want to be there for that talk as well. That's a neat trick you've got there."

"Aren't you angry that I've probably made your future married life difficult?"

"As you would have known if you hadn't of run off like you did, I am most assuredly not getting married. I met that girl earlier this afternoon. Narcissa sprung her on me and asked that I escort her here, nothing more." 

"You'd best tell Lucius and Narcissa that."

"Believe me, I intend to…although after her display here tonight, I really doubt either of them will try pushing the issue."

"You should talk to them anyway…unless you are in fact looking to get married?" 

Tom released him and then plucked the half-drunk champagne glass from his hand and finished it, before giving him a long look and then turning away to face out over the crowd once more.

"I might consider it in a few years."

"It looks like the party is starting to break up."

"Yes, sadly, that's usually what happens once guests start going on drunken rampages." Harry commented drolly. Beside him Tom snorted in amusement, though Luna lightly batted his ribs in reprimand.

 

"Are you headed out somewhere?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Yep. I want to get the Lestrange place ready. I'll be stuck at school until summer, when we're in the new world. I want to make sure it's ready to be moved in to immediately, and right now is the only time I'll have a chance."

"If you wait till tomorrow, I can come help."

"Can't. It has to be today. The telecommunications department is moving in tomorrow."

Sirius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Telecommunications department?"

"Yep. When we move we're not going to have access to the muggle telecommunications infrastructure to run magical phones and computers through. I wrote to the Bells first thing last summer after the solstice and told them about what was happening. They and some friends of theirs have already been working on a completely magical system for the last six months, though none of them were able to give it as much attention as they wanted. The Bells were still running their shop, and their other friends had jobs in the muggle sector as part of the muggle liaison department, one in the phone company, one with an internet company, and the last with a newspaper, though he did computer programming in his spare time, it was a hobby of his. With the magical sectors being impenetrable to muggles now, the ministry has pulled all the muggle liaisons and shut down the department to save money, which left all of them in a bit of a lurch. I offered to let them live at the Lestrange place until the move so they could dedicate themselves full time to getting a magical telecommunications system up and running. They all jumped on it. The Bells sold their shop--they were making most of their money at the muggleborn party, through the Ministry and Gringott's and all three required them travel, rather than having people come to their shop, so they weren't too bothered. The others get to unload their muggle apartments and save money while waiting for the transition, plus I think they really just want to see if they can actually do it; they're all pretty excited about the whole project." 

"I imagine they are. A chance like that, to really make their mark on the world, doesn't really come along all that often for wizards. To have a chance like that, with someone else footing the bills to house and feed them at the same time? Yes, I can imagine they are excited." 

"I really would feel better if someone was with you." Sirius fretted. "Bella was insane, and Rodolphus and Rabastan weren't much better. There's no telling what kind of things you might run across in that house."

"It has to be today. Everyone is moving in tomorrow, and after that I'm headed back to school."

"Hang on, let me see if Barty is free."

Sirius vanished into the study, and Harry sighed and settled back in his seat.

"Don't get annoyed. You're only in fourth year, and I know for a fact you've had rather spotty teaching in your DADA class."

"Couldn't the house elves just tell me if there was anything dangerous?"

"Hmmm…they probably could, but there might be some things they don't realize are dangerous, because it wasn't dangerous to a Lestrange, but it would be to anyone else. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Sirius returned a few minutes later with Barty in tow.

"Hey, Barty."

"So, what's this I hear? You're setting up corporate headquarters so you can move in a telecommunications department before you head back to school and you need someone around to check for cursed items?"

"Pretty much."

"You're something else, kid." 

 

Harry led the way into the castle. Barty looked around curiously as they entered and whistled as he did so.

"I'd forgotten how huge and fancy this place was. It's been a good many years since I've been here."

"You've been here before?"

"Yeah, I was here when Bellatrix and Rodolphus got married. I'd heard Andromeda was expected to marry Rabastan, but she ran off to marry Ted Tonks instead. Truthfully, Rabastan never seemed too bothered about it. Bellatrix, on the other hand, was furious."

"Why did they want to marry two daughters to the same family? You'd think they would want to diversify their bloodline."

"There weren't really any other purebloods around that met the family's stringent requirements, who weren't already contracted elsewhere."

"Their loss, really. Ted's a great guy, and he and Andromeda seem happy with one another."

"Whereas Bellatrix and Rodolphus were fairly indifferent to one another, never had children and are now in Azkaban for life." Barty agreed with a snort. "So, what are we doing, exactly?"

"We're going to clear out the bulk of the decorations and assorted…stuff. We'll leave enough to make the place look nice, but that's all. We also need to make sure there's nothing dangerous left behind that'll kill or maim anyone, and make sure there's rooms for the future interns, offices for the future department heads, workspace for the future departments…that sort of thing."

"Alright, how about this? Have the elves go from room to room and gather up all the magical items and put them in the ballroom. I'll look at everything and separate out anything dangerous, illegal or creepy. That should leave you free to decide what you're going to do with the rest of the place."

"Sounds good. Pip! Lacey! Grommit! Chauncey!"

Four house elves appeared in front of them with a series of soft 'pops'.

"Young master is calling?"

"Yeah. I need you four to go through the whole house top to bottom, gather up all the magical items and take them to the ballroom. When that's done, report back. We're going to have to rearrange some things. Also, some people will be moving in tomorrow. They'll be staying for a while, and I'll expect all of you to look after them while they're here."  
The elves perked up and smiled. They hadn't had much to do since their former masters and mistress had gone away. Things had gotten so bad, they had stooped to making messes just so they could clean them up. It was a sad and shameful life they'd been living, but happily, it seemed to be about to improve.

"I guess that's my cue" Barty remarked as the elves disappeared. "They're so bored, they'll probably be done in no time at all. I guess I'll see you at lunch?"

"Sounds good."

Barty ambled off to get started. Harry was about to start inventorying the downstairs when he felt the wards flicker, meaning someone had come visiting. He got to the front hall just as the front door was opening.

"Tom? What are you doing here?"

"I stopped by your house earlier and your godmother said you were here."

"Oh. Um…did you need something?"

"Not really. I mostly just came by to see if you wanted to hang out for a bit."

"I'm getting this place ready to be corporate headquarters" Harry explained as he led them towards the very end of the west wing of the house to begin the inventory. 

"Sounds thrilling." 

"I'm hoping it won't take all day, but it needs to be done either way." Harry sighed "Actually…if you don't mind pitching in, there's something I could use your help with."

"Oh? What's that?"

"The library. You're a book lover. You could probably tell me what's in the collection that's rare, valuable, or one of a kind, right? I'd want stuff like that separated out from the collection. I want to leave a reference library here, but I'm not really sure what all to include…"

"I'd say most of what's in their library would be ill-served as a public collection. A lot of what they have is old, rare, or one of a kind, if my memory serves me. If you're willing to spring for it, what you might want to do is keep all the originals and make copies of a selection of reference tomes to leave behind. You should be able to pick up blank books at any stationary shop. I can go through the collection and set aside a selection for copying. The elves can do it once I have things set up."

"I might already have copies of at least some of what they have in their collection."

"Do you have an index or anything?"

"Yes."

"Alright, get me your index and I'll leave out anything you already have copies of. What do you want me to do with the dark arts collection?"

"I want it. My library is very lacking in that particular subject. Oddment."

Oddment, the Black family house elf appeared in front of them.

"Young master is calling?"

"Yes, could you get the library index from my rooms and bring it here?"

Oddment vanished and reappeared a few moments later with the large book in tow.

"Thank you, Oddment." 

"Is young master needing anything else?"

"N…actually yes. I need some blank books. Do you know if they sell them in bulk?" he asked Tom.

"You can ask. I'm not really sure."

"Okay, Oddment, can you hit the stationary stores, ask about blank books, whether they sell them in bulk and how much they are?"

"Yes, Oddment can be doing that."

"Okay, great. When you find out just come find me." 

When Oddment disappeared again, Harry handed over the library index to Tom, who immediately began flipping through it curiously as he wandered off in the direction of the library.

 

"Young master, lunch is being ready."

"Oh, already? Great. I am a bit hungry." Harry muttered as he straightened and cracked his back. "Alright, I guess all of you can just finish what you've got there and we'll pick this up after I've eaten."

The elves nodded and popped off with the items they had gathered up, while Harry wandered down to the dining room. 

"You know, I seem to remember them having a much nicer table than this." Barty remarked as Harry entered the room. Tom, who was already seated and ignoring his food in favor of the book he was reading, glanced down at the table distractedly and then frowned. "Isn't this the table from your house?"

"Yep. You're right, they did have a very nice table. It's now in the great hall at my house. This one will do for here. It's going to be a conference room from here on out, not a formal dining room." 

"I noticed a lot of the rooms look rather bare."

"Yeah, I've gotten as far as the second floor, thanks to the elves help. This place is already pretty much perfect as it is. There's a whole bunch of small, very basic bedrooms upstairs, each with a bed, a desk and a bookcase, so I don't have to do anything further for the interns. There's several larger bedrooms on the top floor, which is the family rooms. I guess I'll give those to the telecommunications crew when they get here. I'll have to see once I get that far. I've already had most of the rooms down here converted to offices, and I have the elves setting up classrooms in the tower rooms." 

"Why classrooms?"

"Well, the interns will be Hogwarts students, mostly likely they'll be muggleborns orphaned by the move, though I don't doubt we'll get a few others who just want the opportunity. The plan is to set them to doing different jobs, some of which they might simply not know how to do. The idea was to go over spells they might need before they go out on jobs, to make sure they actually know what to do. The classrooms can also be used for brainstorming sessions as well."

"What do you mean?"

"Get them to come up with new ideas--things we could do or sell, ways to improve efficiency, that sort of thing. If they have good ideas, we'll use them. Each intern will have a file, and ideas they come up with that we use will be noted down. That way, when they graduate and are ready to come on board as regular employees rather than as summer interns, we'll know what division to put them in where they'll be the most use, or whether to fast track them towards management."

"Who's going to be doing all that?"

"I've no idea; we're going to implement the intern program, but we don't actually have all the kinks worked out yet. We're going to need someone to be the intern coordinator at the very least. They'll have to do the orientation, handle scheduling, make up lesson plans for the interns and keep their files updated…and whatever else comes up. Like I said, it's a bit up in the air at the moment." 

"You said this place is going to be on a tropical island, right?"

"Yep. Why, do you want to be the intern coordinator?"

"Maybe… What sort of jobs will they be getting sent out on?"

"Well, we're going to harvest all the wild fruit and such growing on the island when we get there and pack it away so it can be sold during winter. The people there have pretty basic lifestyles, no refrigeration or anything…well, except at the poles. Being able to get fresh fruit and vegetables off season will be a big deal to them. We're also going to set up a resort on the island, and we're going to send out teams to collect samples of whatever they can get their hands on, both on the island and off, so it can be tested for useable properties. The Bells and their team will be working on the phone network for the foreseeable future…we already have Percy and Penny's nightclub… oh, we were thinking of trying to develop magical movies and setting up theatres as part of the entertainment division… all sorts of things really." 

"You don't do things by halves, do you kid?"

"Interested? If you are, go see Griphook at Gringott's. I'll e-mail him later and tell him to expect you. He'll get you set up, and you can hash out the details, put together a questionnaire for the interns and put together an orientation presentation. Oh, they're going to need some way to be added to the wards on this place too…they'll probably also need an information packet with rules and what have you, periodic assessments over the course of the summer… there should be plenty to keep you busy till the move, when we actually have interns." 

"Yeah, maybe I'll do just that. Being a man of leisure has been nice, but I'll be honest, I'm starting to get bored with it. This might be just the thing." 

"Great! Glad to have you on board. Oh, hey, since the telecom folks are coming tomorrow, you can meet with them too and find out if they want or need interns to do a rotation with them, and what they'd need to know before they do. Oh…we'll also need non-disclosure agreements for the interns as well…it wouldn't do for our monopoly on communications to be ruined because some greedy intern decided to take what they learn with us and set up a rival empire…."

"Harry. Stop talking and eat." Tom interjected, nudging his plate towards him.

"There's just so much riding on all this--not just all the money all the investors have put in to it, but also jobs, trade… We're going to need all this if our settlement in the new world is going to make it. The magical world here has lived an almost parasitic existence because of how things are set up. We need to be able to have a fully functioning independent nation if we're going to make it over the long run. So many people's hopes are riding on this venture." 

"Worry later, eat now."   
"But…"

"Harry. It will be alright. You have the vision, you have the drive…you have the most damnable luck I've ever encountered." He caught Harry's eyes and held them, trying to project confidence. Harry slowly relaxed. "Besides…it's his job to worry about all that now."

His words surprised a laugh out of Harry and a put-upon sigh from Barty.

"Hey, you're right. Thanks, Barty!"

"No problem, kid."

"Oh, how's the magical item scan going?"

"Fine. I have everything separated into piles: useful, strange, dangerous and illegal."

"What's in the strange pile?"

"Well…there's a pair of tweezers that, near as I can tell activate while you're sleeping and go to work plucking at your nose and eyebrows. There's a human heart that was enchanted to keep beating, a rod that makes anything it touches sparkly, nipple clamps that send out bolts of pain in slowly increasing doses, a collection of butt plugs…"

"What the hell is a butt plug and why would anyone need a collection of them?"

"If you have to ask, you're too young to know." Barty replied with a laugh. 

"What about the dangerous and illegal stuff?" Tom wondered.

"Torture implements, mostly--knives that leave unhealable wounds, whips that take out chunks of flesh, items that levy various curses--flesh rotting, blood boiling, you name it. Nasty stuff."

Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust. "You have my permission to get rid of the lot…the strange stuff too. Actually, leave the sparkly rod thing. I bet Luna would like that. I can't imagine what need or want I'd ever have for the rest of it." 

"Can do. In fact, once I'm done eating, I'll package up the lot and be on my way. I'll leave the useful stuff. You can sort through it at your leisure."

"What sort of thing made it into that pile?"

"Ever-inking quills, a couple of hairbrushes with charms to pretty your hair, protective amulets, a pensieve, a large crystal ball, a couple of brooms and a flying carpet, a harp that plays itself…that sort of thing."

"Oh, cool. You should take the harp; you've got a baby on the way. I'm sure you'll appreciate it. I've got one at home. It's very soothing." 

"Think we're going to be that frazzled?"

"I meant to put the baby to sleep, but huh, yeah, you might need it more." Harry chuckled.

 

Tom followed the faint sound of voices and activity down the hallway and up the stairs, till he came at last to the master bedroom suite. It was quite a trek from the library and the other 'public' areas of the castle--a definite downside of living in such a place. The 'family' areas were in the south wing, something he vaguely remembered from years long past; he'd been a frequent guest of the Lestranges during his days as Lord Voldemort. 

He peeked his head in the door and found Harry seated cross-legged upon the massive four-poster bed that dominated one end of the room--it was large enough it required stairs to reach it. He was surrounded by piles of paper that he seemed to be sorting through, while all around him a couple of house elves bustled to and fro, emptying the walk in closet and wardrobes of the personal effects of the couple that had once dwelled in this room. 

"What are you going to do with all that?"

"I figured I'd ask Andromeda, Narcissa and Dora if they wanted any of it. If they don't, I'll ask around and see if any of the girls I know do. If not, I guess I'll sell it all to a second hand store or something. The elves have already filled four trunks with dresses and they don't seem to be anywhere near done yet. Neither Rodolphus nor his brother was my size, so their clothes are useless to me as well. You might have better luck if you want to take a gander." 

"I'll think about it." Tom murmured. He felt distinctly odd at the thought of scrounging through the clothing of his former followers, who were in Azkaban for life for having followed him. He wondered if this was what guilt felt like. He couldn't say he cared for it.

"What's all that?" he asked rather than examine the odd twinge in his chest too closely. 

"Just papers from the different rooms; everything from sales receipts to old school papers, to personal letters."

"Anything interesting?"

"Not so far." Harry muttered distractedly while vanishing several of the teetering piles. 

Tom wandered the room, peering in the bathroom, opening drawers, and dodging elves. While he was thus occupied, Harry vanished the last of the piles of papers and slid back on the bed to rest against the headboard.  
Tom, seeing opportunity, joined him. 

"No deep secrets?"

"Nope, just the left over refuse of someone else's life." Harry sighed and kicked off his shoes, before stretching out on the bed. "I'm wiped, which is strange, considering the elves have been doing all the work. How's the library?"

"I left everything you already had a copy of on the shelves, and I had one of the other elves start making copies of everything you didn't. The dark arts books are in the ballroom already, all the rest will be sent down once the copies are made." 

"We is being done, young master. Is anything else you is needing us to be doing?" 

Harry pulled himself to a sitting position and contemplated the two elves who were all but vibrating in eagerness for more to do.

"Well…um…I guess send the trunks down to the ballroom and then you can get started preparing rooms for the guests that will be arriving tomorrow. Six people will be arriving, four men and two women, so we need one double room and four singles."

After the two elves disappeared, the other two showed up.

"Books is being done."

"Are they in the ballroom?"

"Yes, young master."

"Okay. Oddment?"

"You is calling?"

"Yeah, go with Lacey here and help her transport the books in the ballroom to my library. Just stack them on the table or the floor for the moment, wherever you need to."  
The elves nodded and disappeared. 

"Dinner is being ready, announced the remaining elf."

"Oh, great. Um, just bring it up here, I guess." The master suite had a private sitting room equipped with a couch, a desk, a liquor cabinet and a table and chairs. Harry scooched his way to the end of the bed and slid off to land with a thump on the floor far below, while Tom opted for the stairs. 

"Mmm, smells good!" Harry chirped rather cheerfully as they neared the table.

"Spaghetti and meat balls?" Tom murmured in shock. "Anytime I ate here before it was always a multi-course dinner, every bit of it complicated, expensive and served in small, decorative portions on large, expensive plates, each with its own complementary wine and requiring its own separate fork or spoon."

"I had a yen for spaghetti and meatballs. I'm a fairly uncomplicated guy." Harry snorted as he twirled a portion of pasta onto his fork. "And damn if it isn't good." Indeed, the pasta had been freshly made from scratch, as had the sauce, and the garlic bread. Even the parmesan cheese was freshly grated, flavorful and aromatic, and the wine served alongside had been lovingly chosen from the house wine cellars to complement the meal. 

"Do you have anything left to do here?"

"Not tonight. I've been here all day already and I have to come back tomorrow anyway to meet the telecom crew when they move in. I'll finish up tomorrow."

"Do you need any further help?"

"Are you offering? I wouldn't think you would; you've already given up a whole day to help sort the library." 

"I like to be busy, and it's nice having something to do that doesn't require hobnobbing or speaking in public. Truthfully, I didn't mind sorting the library; it was rather soothing, really, and it didn't take me all that long. All the work I did at Won Shi Ton's library gave me a chance to refine a great number of useful spells for sorting and cataloguing such a collection."

"So you've spent most of the day reading then?"

"Yes, and it was lovely." 

"Well, if you want to come back tomorrow I'm certainly not going to object. I shouldn't be stuck here all that long; the bulk of what I intended to do is already out of the way." 

They spent a few minutes eating in companionable silence. Harry was glad for it. His petty revenge against Ekaterina Belyakova--which he could admit to himself was prompted more because she was where he wanted to be than because she was an arrogant psycho-bitch that had just bit Tom--seemed to have dispersed a lot of the awkwardness that had surrounded them. They hadn't discussed the fact that they had kissed, and Tom hadn't made any further moves in that direction…but then he'd also told him flat out that he'd go along with his followers wishes and get married in a few years. Even with how ambivalent he himself had been at the possible change in their relationship, it still made his heart ache to realize that things with them would probably never develop beyond that one kiss. Sitting here with him now, he realized he could live with that if he must. Kissing Tom, as amazing as it had been, had only led to a month of no communication, and awkwardness afterwards. 

If it came down to a choice between having him in his life as a friend and nothing more, and losing him altogether, he'd much prefer the former. He had a few years to get used to the idea of Tom with someone else. Hopefully, by the time it became a reality he'd be able to attend his wedding and genuinely wish him well without feeling completely wretched inside.

 

After dinner, the two of them headed outside in preparation for going home. The night outside was cold and clear, and the moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating the layer of frost and dusting of snow and making it glitter. A sudden howl shattered the stillness of the night and made them both shiver. 

"Is that a werewolf? Wasn't last night the full moon?"

"No tonight is, and I guess it could be." Tom replied as he stepped closer and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him in close to him while his eyes scanned the trees around them. "Better safe than sorry." 

He apparated them both and they reappeared with a muted 'whump' on the front stoop of Grimmauld Place. The street was quiet--most of the shops had closed down for the night and the families of the neighborhood were indoors. The neighborhood looked rather picturesque, with the warm light spilling out of the windows, and the holiday decorations still in evidence. 

Harry realized Tom still had his arm wrapped around him, and they were pressed together rather tightly. It was a rather chilly night, but he couldn't feel the cold, sheltered from it as he was. He was starting to feel rather awkward--Tom didn't seem to be in a hurry to let go; in fact he tightened his grip and rested his chin on the top of his head. Harry felt himself relaxing into his hold in spite of himself. It was nice.

Maybe he was just starved for touch--goodness knows the Dursleys never touched him unless it absolutely could not be avoided. Sirius gave the occasional one-armed hug or ruffled his hair, but that was it. Adeline sometimes smoothed at his hair or fussed in small ways with his clothing, but she did it rarely. His guy friends gave the occasional manly backslap, his female friends sometimes touched his arm when they were talking to him--that was it, really. He'd never had someone just hold him like this. It could quickly grow addicting. 

It was that last thought more than any other that made him peel himself away --slowly, and with great reluctance, it was true, but he did it anyway.

He didn't get very far. Tom halted his retreat and leaned in to seize his lips; he even got a grip on his hair so he could tilt back his head and ravage his mouth at his leisure.   
He had dreamed of their last, ill-fated kiss far more often than he was really comfortable admitting to. The reality far surpassed his recollections. It was lava in his belly, lightning in his blood and a fierce, throbbing ache in his loins. 

They separated, reluctantly, when they were both dizzy from the need to breathe. Tom cupped his face in his hands, and stroked at his cheekbones with his thumbs, while he just looked at him for a long moment. He leaned in once more and kissed him a final time before reluctantly straightening and taking a step back. 

"I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight." And then he was gone. 

Harry sagged against the porch railing and tried to calm his racing heart. 

 

"Hey, kiddo, you're home. It's about time. I was just about to send Oddment off to drag you back." Sirius greeted when he went inside. 

"It took a while. That place is ridiculously huge." He settled down on a chair across from Sirius and Adeline and wrinkled his nose. "Adeline…are those…chocolate covered sardines?" 

Adeline glowered at him reproachfully and pulled her disgusting treat closer protectively. "Don't knock it till you've tried it, and no you can't have any. These are mine." 

Sirius, who was seated at the far end of the couch from his wife, determinedly didn't look her way.

"All I can say is our sprog has some damned weird taste. I thought I'd seen it all when she got up in the middle of the night and got herself some cherry pie topped with pumpkin ice cream and mint sauce, but I think the chocolate fish definitely tops that." 

Harry's face twisted up in bemused horror as his stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch at the very idea. 

"So…anything interesting at the mad bitch's house?"

"Uh…well, Barty did say there was some stuff with nasty curses to boil your blood and rot your flesh…they also had a collection of butt plugs, whatever those are for…I mean really, are they some sort of ill-thought out cure to flatulence or what?"

Adeline snorted into her bowl of chocolate covered fish, and Sirius stared at him like a deer caught in headlights. "W-why do you want to know?"

"Well it's been bugging me ever since he mentioned it. You know, I also just realized he never explained why the pain-inducing nipple clamps were in the odd category and not with the other torture implements."

"Go to your room." 

"Excuse me?"

"Sirius, really." Adeline snorted. "They're sex toys, Harry."

"What, seriously? Ew. I'm glad I didn't handle any of them. Yech." 

"It's way more than I ever wanted to know about my crazy cousin and her equally crazy family." Sirius muttered.

"You and me both."

Adeline was still snickering as she finished off her fish. Oddment popped up soon after to take the bowl away.

"Thank you, Oddment, that was just what I needed." 

"I just remembered, I need to send an e-mail to Griphook about giving Barty a job."

"Barty's going to work for you?"

"For the corporation. He's going to be the intern coordinator and in charge of overseeing headquarters. I also need to write to Narcissa, Andromeda and Dora and see if any of them want Bellatrix's personal effects. I've got about six trunks of dresses in the ballroom."

"Andromeda probably won't want them, Dora will probably have a freak out if you offer them--she still has a bit of a complex where Bella is concerned. Narcissa might, I'm not sure." 

"Alright, I'll just write to Narcissa then and offer the stuff to her. You want any of Rodolphus' or Rabastan's stuff? None of it fits me, and Tom got weird when I offered him a go at it."

"Tom? He was there?"

"Yeah. He sorted through the library for me. He should have been a librarian, seriously. He gets all zen around books." 

"Ah. No, I don't want any of their clothes. Remus is about Rabastan's size, give his stuff to him."

"Alright. I'm gonna head up and write to Griphook."

"Are you heading back there tomorrow?"

"Yeah. There's still a little left to do, but I shouldn't be stuck there as long as I was today, which is a good thing since I still have to pack to head back to school. Man, where does the time go?"

When Harry got into his room, he found his library full of towers of books, stacked in every available space. His personal library had just effectively doubled, if not tripled, which was nice--though seeing as he always seemed to be busy, he wondered when he was actually going to ever get the chance to avail himself of the knowledge he was slowly stockpiling. It had already been a long day, but he knew the job would just seem more onerous if he left it till morning. Happily, he discovered the books were already piled by subject, so all he had to do was add everything to the index and stick them with books of like subject. When he was left with only the dark arts collection he found himself in a bit of a quandry--should he clear a section just for them, or just mix them in with the others? In the end he decided to mix them. He knew full well how Sirius and Remus would react to him having them, and they'd be too noticeable and too much a target all grouped together in their own section. It was better that way, otherwise he might return home and find out the whole lot had been cleared out and used for a bonfire in the backyard. He wasn't going to have that. Too much effort had been made to be sure he grew up ignorant and thus powerless--and he had made a promise to himself that he never would be again. Knowledge was power--and yeah, a lot of the knowledge in those books was probably stuff that was best left to languish in history, but if he didn't know it was possible, he couldn't fight it--and sadly, not everyone was adverse to using the stuff in those books. No, the books were staying, regardless of how Sirius or Remus, or his dead parents would feel about it.

 

Tom was camped out in the parlor reading a book when Harry arrived at the castle the next morning. Tom glanced up and smiled, though his smile froze on his face when Sirius stepped into the room behind Harry and glowered at him like a protective guard dog over the top of Harry's head.

"Harry, how lovely to see you again. You've brought company, I see."

Harry, oblivious to the silent battle raging between the two men just nodded. 

"He figured he'd come along and help finish up since he couldn't come yesterday, even though I told him there wasn't much left to do." 

"It'll just go faster then, and we can get home sooner, that's all." Sirius interjected cheerfully. 

Harry turned to peer out the front window and saw several rental vans pulling up out front. "Looks like we got here just in time. That's probably them now." 

When the three of them got outside, the others had all gotten out of their vans and were gathered in a knot, peering up at the castle with gobsmacked expressions on their faces.

"Bloody hell, Harry…this is your extra house?" Katie Bell squeaked.

"I inherited it. My house is much less grandiose, believe me. I would have felt ridiculous trying to live in this place…but it will make excellent corporate headquarters, don't you agree?"

"I'll say. Damn. It'll almost be like being back at Hogwarts." 

"In terms of size, compared to an ordinary house or flat I imagine it will, but there's no moving staircases, only a few talking portraits, and only one ghost who stays in the top of the west wing tower." 

"Wow. So…introductions. This is David Goldberg, Steve White and Elanna Marsh. Dave was responsible for most of the work to get magical phones to ride on the existing phone system. Steve there did most of the programming for the magical software we offered on our computers, and Elanna did most of the work in getting things to run on magic rather than electricity." 

"Nice to meet all of you. I see you've brought quite a lot of stuff with you. Do you know what you want to go where? The house elves can take it."

"I guess it depends on where we're going."

"You've all got rooms in the south wing, which used to be the family quarters. There's a parlor and a couple of sitting rooms on the ground floor there, and the bedrooms are upstairs. There's access to the garden from there as well. Your workroom is in the east wing on the second floor…You know what? It would probably be best to give you a quick and dirty tour and then you can decide where to have everything taken. Sound good?"

"Sounds great. Let's go." 

It took a while, even with three extra hands, and of course the helpful magic of the house elves. All of them had moved out of their previous homes and had brought all their belongings with them--furniture, clothing…and lots of electronics. They each had a telly, computer, stereo, one or more game systems, lots of videos, cds, and games to go with them. They all also had massive personal libraries--three of the five were former Ravenclaws, and the remaining two were brainy Hufflepuffs--but even with that, they were all rather excited when they found out there was a library on the premises--all but Katie, really. She was a pretty stereotypical Gryffindor in many ways. She was far more interested in the large yard which was screened by both hedges and tall trees; she was itching to take her broom out for a spin, and cursing that they'd not moved in sooner so she could have gotten in some flying over the holiday.

"I guess we'll leave you to finish getting settled in. There were a few things I wanted to finish up elsewhere in the building."

"Alright, thanks for everything." 

"No problem. One of the elves will probably be by in a while to let you know when lunch is ready."

"Great!"

"It's like moving in to a five star hotel."

"Not bad for the lunatic fringe, eh Katie?"

"Daaaad! God, you're so embarrassing." 

"No appreciation, I swear."

"Yeah, teenagers." Sirius agreed, while Katie rolled her eyes.

Harry led them back to the west wing.

"So, what are we going to be doing anyway?"

"Nothing much, just making sure there's basic furniture in all the offices, sorting through the 'useful' magical items left in the ballroom, that sort of thing."

Harry peeked into the former formal dining room--which was now a conference room and whistled. "Damn, they did a great job on the table."

"I seem to remember them having a much nicer table…"

"This is the one from my house. Their old table is now in the great hall and I had this one brought here. The elves got out all the dings and scratches and buffed it up to a mirror shine. Sweet." 

When they exited the room, Harry dug out a metal sign with the words "Conference Room A" and affixed it next to the door. He repeated this process on two other rooms, each about half the size of the formal dining room, and containing a smaller table and fewer chairs and designated them as conference rooms B and C. When that was done he led them to another section and affixed a sign stating "Board Room" on yet another door, before heading inside. What was revealed was yet another long table surrounded by chairs. At the far end of the room was another door. Harry approached the door and affixed another sign, this time stating "Harry J. Potter Chairman of the Board". He stood back to admire it for a moment, and then buffed out a couple of fingerprints, before rejoining Sirius and Tom, who were standing back and watching him with amusement.

"Okay, we need to make some of the seating in here goblin friendly. There's a couple of goblin board members." 

"So just make the chairs small and tall."

"They'll have to climb and scramble to get into them. It's hard to be dignified like that, and will likely make them surly."

"How many are there?"

"Three."

They tossed ideas back and forth, but eventually decided on goblin sized chairs that had a small platform and stairs beneath it, so they could easily get into their seat without climbing or scrambling, but would still be level with the others at the table. Sirius and Tom ended up arguing over every detail, so Harry left them to it and went to set up his office while they were taking care of it.

"There you are! The goblin chairs are done…and this is some office." 

"I'm footing the majority of the bills for this part of the operation, over and above what I've already invested in the corporation. I have to get some kind of perks."

Harry's office, which opened off the boardroom, was a good sized room, filled with luxury. There was a thick carpet underfoot, velvet drapes, a marble fireplace, a marble topped desk large enough for a man to lie on, with clawed feet, backed by a black leather chair. A set of matching chairs were angled before the fireplace, with a small marble-topped table between them. A cabinet to the side, with marble facing on the doors, hid file drawers. There was also a marble-topped wet bar, complete with fancy crystal decanters and glasses. A black leather chaise lounge finished off the room. There was even a private bathroom, complete with bathtub and shower that opened off of it. A large window behind the desk overlooked the gardens beyond, and one could see the south wing across the way. 

"Great, I can't wait to see what you came up with."

Harry followed them back out into the board room and found three chairs on platforms that looked like flat-topped pyramids. 

"Um, how are they supposed to get up there?"

"Like this" Tom demonstrated tapping the side of the platform with his wand. Steps appeared out of the side. One of the chair arms was upraised, Harry saw. 

"Once they get in their seat" Sirius continued, pushing down the chair arm "the steps retract, and the whole thing pulls itself up to the table." As the arm clicked into place, the stairs disappeared and the whole thing did indeed scoot to the table where there was an empty space for it. "When they want to get back down, they just need to lift the chair arm back up and it will pull away from the table and the stairs will pop out again."

"That's pretty cool. You two seem to make a good team."

Sirius and Tom both grunted noncommittally. 

"Anything else you still need to do?"

"Set up an office for Barty. Anything else that needs doing, I guess I'll have to depend on him to see it gets done since I'm going back to school tomorrow." 

Harry led them back towards the entryway, to a room at the corner between the entryway and the hallway leading to the east wing. Harry poked his head inside and looked around consideringly. 

"Could someone make a window on the walls here and here?"

Tom drew his wand and did so. Sirius occupied himself in changing the color of the paint on the walls from tan to light purple, and then added dark purple trim to the windows Tom had just put in. 

"Cheerful…does Barty like purple?"

"I don't know. Eh, he can change it if he doesn't."

While they did that, Harry called one of the house elves to bring miscellaneous items to fill the room with--desk, chair, bookcase, a couple of chairs for in front of the desk, a loveseat and coffee table, and a nice landscape painting for the wall. 

"If he wants anything else in here, he'll have to supply it himself."

They stepped outside and Harry put up another sign-- "Barty Crouch jr. Intern Coordinator and Site Management"

After heading to the ballroom to clear out the stuff there--Harry called Oddment to take Bellatrix's stuff to their house to be held until Narcissa decided if she wanted any of it, called Itsy to take the trunks with Rabastan's clothes to Remus' room at Hogwarts along with a note explaining, and then went to sort through the useful magical items to see if there was anything there he wanted. Tom stared at the trunks left, which held Rodolphus' Lestrange's clothes and then shrunk them down and put them in his pocket. He couldn't change the past, and Rodolphus and he were about the same size. It would be silly to throw the stuff away just because he was having odd twinges. He started towards Harry, but his damnable godfather oh-so-casually wandered into his path so he could stand between them. 

"I guess that's the last of it." 

Tom and Sirius broke off their stare off and followed Harry again as he headed for the front door. Tom sped his steps slightly so he ended up closest to Harry when they got outside. Sirius, seeing what he was doing sped up as well. They each ended up holding one of Harry's arms and trying to pull the boy towards themselves.

"Come on, Harry, let's head home. I'm sure your friend can see himself off."

"Harry and I had planned to hang out for a bit." Tom said with a smile as he tugged him back.

"He needs to get packed for school. He doesn't really have time to hang out." Sirius objected, giving another tug.

The two men were so intent on glaring at each other, they were both taken aback when Harry twisted out of both their grasps, stepped away and glared at them.

"How about you both bugger off. Whatever your problem is, work it out among yourselves and leave me out of it." 

He took two steps and apparated away.

"Harry can apparate? He's only fourteen!"

"Fifteen."

"Whatever. He's not supposed to be apparating! He could get in trouble for that!"

"The ministry can only track registered apparations; that's actually the whole reason they have you register."

"Well this is a fine pickle! He has to go back to school tomorrow, and he's not going to make the train because he'll be off hiding somewhere unexpected and we'll spend days looking for him!"

"He runs away from you often then? Funny…I've never had the same problem. Well, until now, that is."

 

Harry stomped into the house and slammed the door behind himself. Adeline, who was in the study going over some files, heard the noise and came out to investigate.

"Harry? What's wrong? Where's Sirius?"

"Your husband is still at the castle as far as I know. I left without them. They were using me for tug of war! Do I look like a particularly juicy hambone to you?"

"Maybe you should start at the beginning. In fact, we can have ice cream while we talk."

"I don't care what you have, but I'm not eating pumpkin ice cream with mint sauce."

"No, I'm not in the mood for that either. I had the elves make horseradish ice cream. Doesn't that sound tasty?"

"I fear for your child, I really do. Dare I hope we have normal flavors?"

"I think there's some plain vanilla."

"Do we have any chocolate sauce left?"

"Goodness, I hope so…although, now that I think of it, blueberry might be just the thing…"

Harry covered his mouth as his stomach lurched in protest and followed Adeline down to the kitchen with a feeling of doom.

 

"Man o man, you two really did a number on one another. I haven't seen spell damage this bad since we were all back in school."

"What were you two fighting about anyway? And where's Harry at? Oh god…you didn't turn him into a bunny did you? I saw a bunny when we went out to get you guys and it ran off. He might get eaten, or run over by a car or something!"

"We didn't turn Harry into a bunny. He left before we started fighting." Sirius grumbled around the boar tusks that were sticking out of his face, and then flinched when the animated snakes that had replaced his hair all hissed and lunged at him.

"Could you tell the bloody snakes to stop that?!"

Tom Riddle glowered at him and hissed. The snakes, rather than settling down all started wriggling around more. Sirius cringed again and hunched down into himself.

"Hold still, would you?" Elanna scolded Tom while she went to work reversing the transfiguration on his arm, which had been turned into a flipper. 

"Could you make the snakes stop. It's kind of hard to concentrate…" Graham asked nervously as he stood back out of their reach.

"So, what were you two fighting over anyway?" Katie asked again as she settled cross-legged on the table to watch the proceedings. 

The two men glowered at her sullenly. The snakes on Sirius' head settled down and Graham cautiously moved closer to start undoing the damage, while keeping one eye warily on the serpents in case they decided to act up again. 

"Don't be like that!" Katie scolded. "It's obvious you two have some issues you need to work out. It would help if you talked about them."

"She's right, you know" Alex agreed as he came bustling in with a tray loaded down with snack food and drinks. "Those little guys are the best. They went and made tortilla chips and salsa and guacamole for me, and look at this, fresh made pork rinds!" 

"Oh, sweet!" Steve cheered. "Is that beer?"

"Yeah, apparently the little guys make it. He tapped a barrel for me, and it's to die for!"

"Can I have some?" Katie asked in interest.

"Bottoms up, my dear…just the one though."

"Brilliant." 

"Done and done." Elanna sighed. "Pass me one of those." She sighed as she took a deep pull off her mug and smacked her lips in appreciation. "I am loving this place more and more."

Tom and Sirius both found themselves with a foaming mug of ale in their hands and surrounded on all sides by curious and sympathetic people.

"Have a drink and a tortilla and tell us all about it, boys. You can't let things fester, it just makes them worse, and hexing each other, while perhaps satisfying in the short run, really doesn't solve anything." 

Tom's hand twitched beneath the table and tried to grab for his wand, but he forced the impulse down. He had a feeling all chances of snogging Harry again would disappear if he blasted his way through his bloody telecommunications department. He did the only thing he could instead--he took a deep pull on his drink and snagged a tortilla chip. 

"That's the spirit! So, go on, tell us all about it." 

Sirius was all set to unleash an epic rant about how the seemingly innocent boy across from him was actually You-know-who in disguise and that he had an unhealthy interest in his little godson and was probably going to lead him into mayhem and infamy, but for once his common sense managed to kick in and halt the words before they could be spoken. He couldn't say any of it: the folks here would either not believe him and think he was deranged, or they would believe him and think he was deranged--after all, he was hanging out with the sonavabitch, and hadn't killed him when he had a chance, just hexed him.

He glowered at the table and then sighed, and took a long pull off his own drink. He glanced up and met Tom's eyes and he smirked just a bit--he knew full well the thoughts that had just run through his head, the bastard. Well, he'd show him--he could say a lot without saying everything.

"He has an unhealthy interest in my godson, and I think he's going to lead him bad places, full of mayhem and infamy. Also, he's not trustworthy. He's poor, dirt poor, poor as a bloody church mouse. Harry, obviously, is not. What's more, he's been doing his damnedest to make what he has grow. And he" he pointed at Tom accusingly "has latched on to him like a bloody leech and won't take a hint that he's not wanted!" 

"Whoa, whoa, let's calm down here, fella." Alex tutted as he finished his beer. An elf popped up to top off everyone's drinks and disappeared again. "I love this place! But let's get back on subject. I have to say, it's weird hearing you of all people worrying about mayhem and infamy. I remember you and your friends from Hogwarts. I'd bet there was a time you didn't think something was worth doing unless there'd be mayhem and infamy involved! I suppose it didn't hurt that the headmaster favored you lot. The things you got away with! The rest of us were certain he'd let you get away with murder if he found it amusing!"

"There were no murders." Sirius insisted.

"Hmm…lucky for you Remus Lupin turned out to not actually be a werewolf, huh?" Tom said innocently before finishing off his beer.

"Hey! Think what you like about me, but I did not go around trying to get my bloody friends killed! I didn't like that bastard Snape, but I don't care how much I didn't like him, I didn't dislike him enough to get one of my friends killed for the off chance that he might get taken along for the ride!" Sirius growled. "The greasy bastard did something to me. I never would have endangered Moony like that. Do you think any of them would have ever spoken to me again otherwise? They knew I wouldn't have done that. We figured El Greaso was planning to kill Moony. He'd have been hailed as a great bloody hero for offing a 'dangerous beast', and he could have rubbed our face in the fact that he'd just murdered our friend and was being celebrated for it, and there wasn't a thing any of us could have done about it." 

Tom peered at him thoughtfully and took a pull on his second beer--freshly topped off by one of the ever helpful house elves. 

"Okay, wow, I really want to hear the details of that story…but we digress. So, you think Tom here is trying to bilk Harry out of money?"

"I'm not poor, you berk. I happen to have done quite well for myself. I also have my own house, thank you very much." Tom snarked back. He was beginning to wonder if he should keep drinking--he normally didn't indulge, and he was beginning to feel sort of blurry around the edges. It was a strangely pleasant feeling.

"Well, there you go. He has his own money and his own house, so your fears are unfounded." 

"He still has an unhealthy interest in him and I don't like it."

"I do not." Tom objected.

"You're a bad influence."

"Let me remind you it was your godson who's idea it was to go haring off to another world to go fight a war. I was in the bloody library organizing books! He and his little friends come by to visit for a few hours and the next thing I know, Wan Shi Tong is all pissed off and decides to take the library, which had been in that spot for millennia to hear him tell it, back to the bloody spirit world! I had to hitch a ride on the bloody carpet to escape! And what's waiting outside but a pitched battle between sand bandits and fire benders fighting over the avatar's great bloody bison thing! I got dragged kicking and screaming into the middle of a stupid war, and drug all over the known world while your godson played ninja and blew things up all over the place! And I'm the bad influence? HA!"

"Wait, what? Harry fought in a war? When the hell did this happen?" Katie interrupted.

"Last year. He traveled back in time so he could have an extended vacation without anyone missing him."

"He just traveled back in time. Right."

"Oh, he got something from a friend of his that let him do it." 

"Because his friend just randomly had a time travel device lying about. Makes perfect sense to me." Katie scoffed.

"Dumbledore gave it to her so she could attend all the classes for twelve OWLs. Harry just borrowed it." 

"Dumbledore gave a kid the power of time travel so she could attend extra classes? Are you shitting me?" Steve demanded, gobsmacked.

"Nope. That sort of blatant favoritism is par for the course for the old bastard." 

"What exactly was he doing in a war?" David wondered, getting them back to the original subject.

"Oh, the usual--blowing up weapons depots, sinking ships, disrupting supply lines, passing information on troop movements to their allies, rescuing political prisoners, that sort of thing. The war had been going on for a hundred years." Tom muttered dismissively as he took another long pull off his drink. 

He was feeling decidedly fuzzy around the edges by this point, and his teeth felt strangely numb. It was a rather strange feeling. He leaned his head on his arm and stared blearily at the condensation rings that had formed on the table and started smearing them with his finger to try making a picture out of them.

"You're all missing the point!" Sirius interjected as he slammed down his (second) empty mug, and was promptly handed another. 

Tom's venture into condensation ring art was interrupted as another mug appeared before him as well. He blew on the foamy head and giggled when it splattered Sirius' cheeks.

"Thank you so much, helpful little fellow, but I think that's enough for one night. Katie! I told you, just one!" Graham thanked the elf before glowering at his daughter who was hurriedly finishing her third illicit beer. She slammed her mug onto the table and belched and then gave her two dads a dopey grin. "You said I could have one glass, you didn't say anything about it being refilled."

"Hee. You got outsmarted by a Gryffindor. We need to take back your status as a Ravenclaw braniac." Steve snickered.

"What point are we missing?" Elanna wondered, while staring blearily in Sirius' general direction. Elf-made beer was potent stuff, it seemed.

"Huh?"

"You said we were missing the point." 

"Oh, right…what was the point? Oh, yeah…the point is, the point is….oh, yeah! He has an unhealthy interest in my godson and needs to go away."

"I'm not going anywhere and you can't keep Harry away from me."

"The hell I can't."

"You can't if he doesn't cooperate." 

"You need to stay away from him! I'm on to you! You want to lead him into a life of crime and murder him." 

"I do not, geez. You're beginning to sound like a broken record. You're also sadly underestimating your godson. He's dangerous, and tricky and he can do weird things with his shadow…and logs. I don't know where he gets them. It's the oddest thing."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"See? You don't know half of what he's capable of. He's tricky, I tell you" Tom downed the rest of the beer in front of himself and then blinked sleepily as he stared out into space with a vacant expression on his face. "….is the room spinning or is it just me?"

"The room's definitely spinning." Katie snickered. "Hey, chips and salsa, give em here."

"You know, these pork rinds are really good."

"What is that green stuff anyway?"

"It's guacamole. It's good. You should try it." 

Tom focused on the bowl of green goop with difficulty and then ran one of his fingers down the center, and then studied the blob of green on the end of his finger for a moment, before sticking it in his mouth. He sucked on his finger thoughtfully for several moments and then removed it with a 'pop'. "That is pretty good." 

"We need music." Elanna decided, pointing her wand at the stereo. As the music began playing, Elanna got up to start dancing, dragging Steve (and his pork rinds) with her. Alex and Graham shared a look and shrugged, before getting up to dance as well. "Looks like you're with me, Dave." Katie chortled, dragging the man up out of his seat. 

Tom stopped eating the guacamole when he realized there was more beer in front of him that he hadn't drunk yet. He took another long pull and smacked his lips thoughtfully. Guacamole and beer tasted rather odd together…not bad, just odd. He still couldn't feel his teeth. He stuck a few fingers into his mouth to feel around to see if he'd lost his teeth somewhere, but no, they were still there, he just couldn't feel them…or his toes, now that he thought about it. 

"Your planning something. I know it. I won't let you destroy him like you did his parents." Sirius swore as he stared blearily at the teen across from him.

Tom rolled his eyes and reluctantly stopped prodding at his teeth so he could focus, more or less, on the swaying man across from him, who was alternating glowering at him with snacking on the remains of the tortillas and salsa.

"The only thing I've been planning was to get your godson alone for a bit today."

"Ah-ha! So you could kill him!"

"So I could snog him, you bastard." Tom huffed, before laying his head on the table. He was starting to feel dizzy from the room spinning. "And you completely ruined it. How the hell am I supposed to conduct a bloody courtship under these circumstances?" His shoulders sagged and he sighed despondently before continuing. "And now he's going to be off at Hogwarts again, for the next six months, mind you, while I'm off tromping around the bloody Americas making public speeches and hobnobbing. Was it really so much to ask? A few hours before we part? Who knows what might happen while I'm gone. He's already taken that bloody Weasley chit that was always stalking him to the stupid Yule ball, and spent the evening snogging some Slytherin chit. He probably thinks I don't know about that, but I overheard Draco talking about it on the phone one day. He did all that after I kissed him the first time, instead of sitting around pining till I decided what I wanted to do about things like he was supposed to."

"First time? What do you mean first time? Just how much kissing has been going on?" Sirius sputtered while waving his arms around. 

He slammed one hand down, and caught the edge of the bowl that held the remaining guacamole. It flipped into the air, spattering him in green goop, before landing back on the table with a clatter. Tom ignored the byplay and kept talking. 

"I really wanted to throttle him… but then I realized he thought I was just playing with him or something…and then Narcissa sprung that psycho on me to take to your stupid party, and Harry thought we were getting married and he'd barely speak to me. I realized then that I didn't really need to think about things, because I already knew what I wanted. He makes me happy, which is something that's been in short supply in my life." 

Tom's words grew slower and more slurred the more he talked, till he eventually fell asleep face down on the table. Across the room, the others were jumping around like loons and dancing, but Sirius paid them no mind. He was too busy staring at the teen passed out on the table.

 

"Where is he?"

"Got me. I told you where he was last I saw him."

"You don't think he's out looking for you, do you?"

"If he is, he's an idiot."

"Oddment."

"Yes, mistress?"

"Can you find Sirius and then come back and tell me where he is?"

"Certainly." Oddment disappeared and then returned a few moments later. "Master is at a party passed out on the table, mistress."

"He's what?" Adeline growled. "I don't believe him! Bring him back here right now!"

Oddment disappeared again and returned a few minutes later with a bleary Sirius. He had a couple of broken tortilla chips stuck to his face, a bit of guacamole in his hair and smelled strongly of beer. 

"Wow…when did you get so tall?" Sirius giggled before passing out again.

Adeline's eyes narrowed in rage and she straightened indignantly. 

"Oddment, take your master down to the dungeons to sleep it off. Make sure you lock the door. I don't want to see his face till morning at the very earliest."

"Yes, mistress." 

"Oddment…was Tom with him?"

"I did not see him, young master." 

"Alright, thanks." 

Oddment and Sirius disappeared again. Harry tried Tom on the phone, but there was no answer.   
Glumly, he put away his phone and sighed. 

"I guess I'll go pack for school. I still haven't done that. I shouldn't have left the two of them alone. They were glaring at each other over my head all morning, but I didn't want to stick around and be used for tug-of-war either."

"I'm sure he's fine, wherever he is."

"Yeah, probably. I know he can take care of himself. I was just hoping I'd get to see him for a bit before heading back to Hogwarts. He's not even going to be in the country."

"If there is something between you, it will still be there come summer…and some distance might not be a bad thing. You said yourself you were ambivalent about things."

"Yeah, I guess. This is all so messed up. I was hoping we'd have a chance to talk today. Seems there's fat chance of that happening now."

"Like I said, if there's something there, it will still be there come summer. You'll have the time to figure out what you want, not what Tom, Sirius or anyone else wants, and that's not a bad thing." 

"Yeah. Um, sorry I dumped all this in your lap like that."

"I'm not. You obviously needed to talk about everything. I was more than happy to listen." 

Adeline hugged him then, which was a bit awkward with her belly in the way, but it was nice just the same.


	9. Skeeter Scandals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble at the Melting Pot leads to scandals that rock wizarding Britain

Harry came down for breakfast the next morning and glanced pointedly as Sirius' empty seat.

"He still passed out?"

"I haven't checked on him yet. I had Oddment take his breakfast to the dungeon…his very, very greasy breakfast. Once he's good an nauseated I'll consider letting him out. I mean, really, what the hell was the man thinking?"

"I haven't the foggiest. I'd still like to know how he got from the front lawn of the castle to a party in such a short time."

"We'd both like to know that." 

As though summoned by their conversation, Sirius suddenly peeked his head into the doorway, wincing at the bright sunlight filling the room.  
Adeline stiffened at the sight of him and her eyes narrowed.

"I still had my wand on me." Sirius croaked in explanation.

"You smell like a brewery." Adeline replied before going back to her breakfast.

"I'll just get cleaned up then, shall I?"

"It would be appreciated." 

Sirius eyed the stiff set of her shoulders and winced, before shuffling off to go get cleaned up.

Sirius returned a half hour later looking far more alive that he had earlier--washed, freshly shaven, and having downed a hangover cure scrounged from the potions lab before he'd made his escape from the lowest levels of the house. Harry and Adeline were in the parlor, and there was breakfast waiting for him in the now empty dining room. He headed to where there was food, deciding he'd face the firing squad better on a full stomach.   
When he finished up, he headed off to meet his doom. 

"It's nearly ten thirty. Take Harry to the train. Afterwards, I expect you to return promptly, without getting lost in any random parties along the way and forcing me to retrieve your alcohol sodden, passed-out body from who knows where, and we will _talk."_

Sirius gave his wife a sickly smile and said the only thing he could under the circumstances. "Yes, dear." 

Harry said his goodbyes to Adeline, and then he and Sirius headed outside. Harry grinned at him as he grasped his arm to apparate them both to the platform.

"Man, you are so screwed." 

 

They arrived on the platform and stepped away from the apparation point, and found themselves an empty spot amidst the crowd that was already forming.

"So what the hell happened yesterday? And what happened to Tom?"

"We got into a duel, and your minions at the castle came and hustled us inside to undo the hexes. They broke out some beer while they were lecturing us about talking about our feelings or something. Last I saw what's his face he was passed out face-down on the table. I don't know what happened to him after that." 

Harry just shook his head and decided to let the subject drop--Sirius still had to deal with Adeline after they were done here.

"Whatever. Good luck with your wife, I have a feeling you're going to need it."

"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You realize, next time we see each other, the baby should be here and we'll be in the new world." 

"Wow. That's kind of mind-blowing, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It really is."

"Well, have a good term, and good luck on your OWLs…man, the time goes by fast, doesn't it? Just the other day you were a wee bit of a thing coming by to visit me at the hospital…and look at us now."

"Yeah, time flies."

Sirius pulled him in for the one-armed hug and hair ruffle and then let him go. 

"I guess I'd best go face my doom and get it over with."

"I'm sure she'll forgive you by the time the baby gets here." 

"Yeah, thanks kid, really, you're a great help." 

Harry snickered and boarded the train. 

 

He wandered down the hall looking for familiar faces and slowed upon spotting Hermione Granger ensconced alone in a compartment staring at the wall, not a book in sight, and surrounded by a startling amount of luggage.

"Hey, Hermione, what's with all the luggage?"

Hermione jumped when he spoke, obviously so lost in thought she hadn't heard him enter. "W-what?"

"The luggage?" he repeated, only to blanch when her eyes filled with tears. Unlike her usual hysterical waterworks, where tears bloomed from her eyes like water from a fountain, this time her tears simply slid silently down her face one after another. 

"It's all my stuff from home. I cleared out my room. It was awful…not at first. I didn't really notice at first how different things feel on the muggle side now. It was a gradual thing. I started to notice the absence of magic and it started making me antsy, and my parents started getting weird, and my little sister hates me. She kept screaming every time I tried to pick her up or"

"Little sister?"

"She was born last year. She's a muggle. My parents wrote to professor McGonagall and she wasn't on the list. They were quite relieved. Oh, they tried to downplay it, but it was pretty obvious. All the plans they used to have for me they're making for her now. Her name's Desdemona and she wants nothing to do with me, and by the time I left my parents were looking at me suspiciously like I had done something to her…and I realized that, even if I was willing to give up magic, everything would be all messed up. I dropped out of muggle school when I was eleven, and it would take time to try to catch up on everything I missed and I'd be out of step with everyone and it would be ten times worse than when I was in muggle school the first time around. I tried watching the telly with my parents and I didn't get most of the jokes because I have no idea what's been going on in the muggle world recently, and I don't know the music or the shows or the movies--I'm completely out of touch with pop culture and it would be difficult to try to explain just what I'd been doing the last few years….and I didn't want to. I'm not a muggle, I'm a witch, and I realized I couldn't have both and I was going to have to choose, and so I did, but my parents were so angry, even though I still think they're somewhat relieved to not have to deal with the strangeness anymore, and here I am and I'm never going to see them again and…and…" 

At that point she started sobbing in earnest, and covered her face with her hands as her shoulders shook.   
Harry sank down next to her and patted her shoulder, only to get an armful of sobbing Hermione a moment later. He didn't know what to say--he couldn't tell her it was alright, because really, it wasn't--she had just lost her whole family in one fell swoop because she chose to follow magic where it led. So, Harry said nothing, and let her cry. 

 

Neville arrived about twenty minutes later. He opened the door and stopped dead upon seeing the piles of luggage and Hermione stretched out upon one of the seats asleep, her eyes still swollen and red from crying. He looked at Harry questioningly, so Harry put up a barrier so their voices wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl, and then explained their earlier conversation.

Neville looked rather horrified when he was done. Having just gotten his own parents back, and having lived without them most of his life, he understood all too well what a sacrifice Hermione had made, and couldn't honestly say whether he thought it was worth it. One the one hand, living without magic forever…he honestly couldn't imagine it. He figured it must be doable--muggles did it all the time, but they were muggles, not wizards. Magic was a part of them, and the idea of voluntarily getting rid of that part of oneself was unthinkable…and yet, to give up your family like that. What's worse, Hermione wasn't the only muggleborn at the school, or who was part of their world. How many more had made a similar sacrifice, and how many would spend their lives regretting it? Their trip to the new world had seemed a grand adventure when he first heard what was going on, but now, he couldn't say it seemed very grand at all…and yet, what other choice did they really have? 

"Is it going to be worth it? All this? Is the new world going to be enough better to justify these kinds of sacrifices?"

"We're going to have to make it be."

"Can we?"

"Yes, we can…will we? That's another question altogether. We each have to do our part to make sure it's worth it."

At five minutes to eleven the Weasleys erupted onto the platform, and managed to scramble onto the train just as the final warning whistle was sounding.   
A few minutes later Ron and Ginny arrived at the compartment. Ron glanced at Hermione oddly and then proceeded to put up his trunk, already sounding a litany of complaints about everything from the Canons latest game, to the stuff he'd wanted for Christmas that he didn't get, to how short the holiday was. Ginny lingered in the doorway glowering at Harry, before finally flouncing off, slamming the door behind her. The slamming door woke Hermione who startled and sat up to look around blearily.

"Budge over, would you." Ron ordered, before flopping down in the empty space left when Hermione sat up. "Anyone got anything to eat?"  
The other three just looked at him. 

 

Neville, Harry and Ron got a carriage together when they reached Hogsmeade. Hermione had been unable to deal with Ron being Ron when she was in such fragile condition emotionally and had blown up at the redhead about an hour into the trip, and stormed off. Another battle had almost erupted about halfway through the trip when the twins had caught Ginny once again snogging Michael Corner, but they were stunned by several bystanders before they could do much--a lot of them were still annoyed about the trip home and weren't going to stand for it happening again. 

In spite of everything, it was good to be back at Hogwarts. The great hall had been stripped bare of its holiday finery, there was a low roar of conversation as the students got one another caught up on what they'd missed out on since last they'd seen one another. 

They took their seats at the table, and saw Dean was in much the same state as Hermione was, fragile and subdued. Looking out over the hall, Harry could see many others in the same state peppered amongst the cheerful children with no muggle relations that they'd never be seeing again. 

Up at the head table, professor McGonagal rapped her fork against her glass to get the students attention as Headmaster Dumbledore stood to welcome everyone back for the new term. Dumbledore had just raised his hands for quiet when Colin Creevey staggered into the hall looking wild eyed and tearing at his hear only to fall to his knees just beyond the doorway. 

"WE'VE BEEN ROBBED! IT'S ALL GONE! ALL OF IT!"

Morag MacDougal, who was right behind him, turned tearful, pleading eyes on the frozen teachers. "CALL THE AURORS! WE WILL HAVE VENGEANCE!"

"What on earth?"

"The pictures" Harry realized. "Rita Skeeter stole the pictures they took at the Yule Ball and published them in Witch Weekly as her own work…oh no… Colin!" Harry called urgently across the pandemonium that had spread through the room at the dramatic entrance. "The film? Do we still have the film?"

Colin turned stricken eyes on Harry and shook his head. "It's all gone! The film, the photos we developed, the order forms, even our petty cash fund! She cleaned us out!" 

"SON OF A BITCH!" Harry cursed loudly.

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall hissed in shock from the head table. 

"If everyone would quiet down?" Dumbledore huffed from where he still stood poised to address the students. The students kept talking though, as more and more realized what the theft meant for their club activities.

"But…if we don't have the film or any of the pictures…"  
"We have to give back all the money we collected, and we'll be left with hundreds of decorative frames we can't get rid of…"  
"This is a disaster!" 

Dumbledore, who was looking quite irritated by now, held up his wand and fired off a loud bang. "Students, please take your seats. Now." he added when Colin and Morag looked ready to argue. 

Colin and Morag shuffled to their seats and sat down, concerned friends and curious bystanders who leaned in to question them gulped, quieted down and settled back in their seats when the headmaster's annoyed gaze passed over them. When silence finally reigned Dumbledore began to speak. "Welcome to another new term at Hogwarts…"

Once Dumbledore finished speaking and sat back down, Harry leaned in to talk to Dean. 

"Spread the word to the other club heads, emergency meeting tomorrow after classes in the Melting Pot, make sure everyone checks over their clubhouse and petty cash fund, we don't know how far the theft went." 

Dean nodded and dug out his phone, and started calling the other club heads in between bites of dinner. Harry pulled his own phone and called the head of the accounting department. 

"Hey, Kevin, it's me Harry. Tomorrow, there's an emergency meeting with all the heads. Make sure all of the general fund and all your books are both in order and accounted for and be ready to make a report." After talking with Kevin, he put in another call to Tracey Davis, head archivist.  
"Hey Tracey, it's me, Harry. There's going to be an emergency meeting of all the heads tomorrow after classes. I need you to check and see if the archive copies of whatever photos Colin and Megan developed before leaving are in place. If they are, make copies of all of them and bring them with you, along with copies of the order forms and any other relevant paperwork. If all goes well, we should have aurors coming by to speak with us, and we need to be able to prove a theft happened." When he was done talking to her he called down Colin, who was still looking distraught. 

"Yeah, Harry?"

"Have all of you been following procedure?"

"Huh? Oh, the checklists and stuff? Yeah, why?"

"You have, good. You made a note of the numbers of all the film right?"

"Yeah, I told you, we've been doing all that stuff, but it doesn't matter! The clipboard is gone, so is the checklist! That's what I was trying to tell you! She cleaned us out! We have no proof that any of the stuff was ever in our possession!"

"Wrong. Each time you fill out your checklists a copy is made down in archives. The clipboard copy was for you guys. If everything worked as it was supposed to, we do in fact have proof, and we'll use it to nail Rita Skeeter to the wall. We're having an emergency meeting tomorrow after classes, and I'll try to make sure some aurors are there for it. Do you know how much was in your petty cash fund?"

"A hundred galleons, it should have been." 

"Buck up. We'll get her."

"That's all well and good, but unless we get back the film too, we're screwed."

"Don't borrow trouble. Alright, let me go see if we can have some aurors come talk to us tomorrow at the meeting." 

Harry finished off his dinner, wiped his mouth and marched up to the head table to plant himself between Dumbledore and McGonagall's seats.

"I'd like to request some aurors come here tomorrow before dinner so we can report a theft."

"Really, Mr. Potter, thefts at Hogwarts, while unfortunate, do not require intervention by aurors."

"I beg to differ, headmaster, as this particular theft was committed by an adult who is unaffiliated with Hogwarts."

"Oh? Very well, we can discuss matters in my office." Dumbledore sighed dismissively. 

"Why? It's a fairly straightforward request, headmaster."

"Mr. Potter, that is quite enough. Run along, I will speak to you later."

 

"Well?" 

"He wants to talk about it in his office."

"Why?"

"Because he's a control freak."

"Harry! Don't disrespect the headmaster like that!" Hermione hissed indignantly.

"It's ridiculous. There's no reason he couldn't have just heard me out and got on with things. Now, I have to put off going to bed and go trekking off to his office. It's very annoying."

"Even so, you shouldn't disrespect him like that." 

"Whatever."

 

When dinner was over, Harry made the long trek to the headmaster's office. He knocked perfunctorily on the wooden door at the top of the winding staircase and stepped inside. Dumbledore looked a bit disgruntled that he entered the room before he could tell him to, and sat back with his hands folded in front of him on the desk and glowered with mild reproof over his half-moon glasses. Harry ignored the glower and flopped down in the uncomfortable seat facing the headmaster's desk. They sat in silence--Harry guessed the headmaster was trying to make him feel uncomfortable and cowed--he could wait him out. He wasn't leaving this office without a firm agreement to call the aurors, and if the man reneged after, he also wasn't afraid to go over his head.

Dumbledore's eyes suddenly narrowed just a tiny bit and his glance flicked to the door just a firm knock sounded and the door opened revealing professor McGonagall. 

"I haven't missed anything, have I?" she asked, taking the second seat. "You said something about a theft earlier, and needing aurors, didn't you Mr. Potter?"

Dumbledore huffed just a bit and then leaned back in his seat, now thoroughly annoyed at both their refusal to behave.

"So he did." he agreed.

"You also mentioned something about an adult unaffiliated with Hogwarts. What was stolen?"

"Film, photographs and the petty cash fund for the photography club among other things."

"That is unfortunate, but again, such a minor theft doesn't"

"Minor? MINOR? There was a hundred galleons in the petty cash fund, and the theft of the film and the few photographs that were developed represents a loss of upwards of five hundred galleons more, headmaster. We're not talking about the loss of a few shillings of pocket change. This could well crash our whole economy, and definitely means we're not going to be able to afford to replace the school brooms like we were hoping."

"Six hundred galleons?" McGonagall repeated, utterly gobsmacked. "Where on earth did you children get so much money?"

"Hello? We've been selling stuff at our end of year fairs, and we sold souvenirs at the first task, which is where most of the clubs petty cash funds came from. That money more or less just gets traded back and forth amongst the clubs for services rendered. The five hundred is the proceeds we collected from everyone who ordered photographs of the ball, money we're going to have to return if we can't produce the photographs everyone ordered. We know who the thief is, and when the theft likely occurred. We need some aurors to go and get her and return our property! If they could come by about an hour after classes, that would be ideal. We're going to be having a meeting and compiling our evidence after classes let out tomorrow, and that would give us enough time to do so." 

"I'll put in the call, Mr. Potter. I'll let you know the time and place once I've found out." McGonagall assured him. "Run along now, it's nearly curfew." 

 

Harry found most of the first through fifth years waiting in the common room when he got back, and the sixth and seventh years milling around the edges of the room uncertainly, wondering just what the heck was going on.

"Well? What did he say?" Lavender demanded as soon as he'd stepped through the portrait hole.

"McGonagall said she'd put in the call personally and let me know as soon as she had a time and place."

"So Rita Skeeter really did rob the place?"

"Seems that way, yeah. She cleaned the place out, thinking there'd be no proof she stole anything, is what I'm guessing. Shame for her we put in redundancy systems and kept careful records. Don't worry, if everything worked like it should have we can nail that bitch to the wall."

"I'm more concerned with getting our film back. It'll be a nightmare otherwise."

"I can't believe she'd do something like this."

"I know, right? What an idiot."

"What a bitch, you mean."

"Since we'll be able to prove a theft did in fact take place, we may be able to get back the money, not just the film. We might even be able to get whatever she was paid for the pictures she used. If we play things right, we might even come out ahead of the game. I'll shoot off word to Gringott's in the morning and ask about that."

The kids cheered.

"Alright, you lot, we'd best be getting to bed. Classes start bright and early tomorrow morning." 

There was some grumbling, but the students began climbing to their feet to head up to the dorms. Before heading up, Harry saw one of the seventh year girls give him a filthy look before storming upstairs.

"Man, what's her problem?"

"She's head girl this year, remember? She was trying to shoo everyone off before you arrived and no one listened to her."

Harry snickered, feeling rather pleased by that knowledge in spite of his best effort not to.

 

"Hey, everyone. We're all here, good. Tell me our redundancy systems worked as planned." Harry opened the meeting.

"Everything worked, what's more, we have direct proof that Rita Skeeter was on the premises…there's a small problem though. She went in with Colin and Dennis." Mike replied.

"What? No she didn't! The only person with me was Dennis, no one else!" Colin protested.

"Morag came in about fifteen minutes later. The four of them were inside for an hour, and then Colin, Dennis and Morag left, and twenty minutes later Rita Skeeter did." Mike repeated, waving the log from the wards.

"She wasn't there, I tell you! I wouldn't have just let her in to our darkroom, and I certainly wouldn't have left her there alone after we'd closed up for the night!" 

"Everyone settle down. She could have been invisible or something, that would explain why no one spotted her anywhere on the grounds." Dean interjected.

"Yeah, and she probably was, but all we have here is the log with names, and the timing of things makes it look like we're pulling a fast one." Mike agreed.

"Hmm…would you two be willing to submit a copy of a memory to be viewed? We might be able to spot her lurking around, or at least prove that neither of you saw her or knew she was there." Harry asked.

"Um, sure, I guess…how do you give a copy of a memory?"

"It's not hard, I've done it before. Happily, I even have a pensieve handy." Harry explained as he dug around in his pouch and withdrew the pensieve he'd gotten from Lestrange Castle--his own was at home on his desk. 

"Wow, what's that thing?"

"It lets you view memories. You'll get to see it in action when the aurors get here. How about the rest of you? Do we have what we need?"

"Yeah, we have the archive copies of the photos that were developed, we have the archive copy of the checklist with all the film listed, the list of all the orders made for pictures." Tracey agreed.

"We also have the accounting entries for all the orders, and the last accounting of the photo club's petty cash fund." Kevin added.

"Was anything else missing?"

One by one the other club presidents shook their heads. "Nope, door was locked, petty cash was all accounted for and everything was just as we left it."

"Same here."  
"Us too." 

"Well, there's that at least." 

"We should look at the memories before the aurors get here, just so if we know if we even have a case." Mike suggested.

The others around the table nodded.

"I already told you she wasn't there!"

"Look, I believe you, but I'm head of security, I need to ask the tough questions."

"Alright, if we're agreed, Colin, just relax, and think about that night, after you left the ball and went to the darkroom." Harry ordered.

"Okay, now just think about wanting to give me the memory…there we go."

The other kids grimaced as they saw a long string of glowing silver being pulled from Colin's head.

"That feels really weird"

"I know…there we go." Harry dropped the strand into the bowl and motioned for everyone to gather around. "There's not enough room for everyone to stick their head over, so we'll watch like this. It's not as detailed, but it should be enough for the moment."

Harry stirred the bowl and a ghostly image of Colin and Dennis rose up out of the bowl and started moving around.

"Hey! What was that?"

"I saw it too. A little dot popped off his back."

"Hmm…this bears further investigating. Back up a sec." Harry leaned his face over the bowl and entered the memory fully. A few minutes passed and he stood, smiling in triumph. 

"There was a beetle on Colin's back, half-hidden under his collar. It flew off and hid on top of the doorframe once they came inside. It looks like it's wearing glasses."

"She's an animagus? A beetle animagus?"

"Do we have anything to detect animagi?" Hannah wondered.

"No, we weren't able to find anything specific to either detect or deter them, and we didn't think it was really something to worry about, they're so rare." Mike replied.

"Fair enough. But, yeah, I think that's our answer. She did come in with them, as a bug and hid in the room and watched them going about their business and then cleaned out the joint once they were gone. That's how she knew what all to take to cover the theft and knew about the lockbox."

"We've got her!" Cho cheered.

"You've got who?"

The kids turned to see a pair of Aurors framed in the doorway--familiar aurors at that. Kingsley Shaklebolt and Dora Crouch, to be exact. 

"Rita Skeeter. She was roaming the grounds and robbed us in her illegal animagus form, a jeweled beetle, and we can prove it."

"Let's see what you've got." 

 

"Auror Crouch, what have you got for me?" Rufus Scrimgeour asked.

"I just came back from Witch Weekly. Kingsley and Dawlish went out to try to find Rita Skeeter."

"I thought you and Shaklebolt went to take a complaint at Hogwarts."

"We did. Rita Skeeter is an illegal animagus, a beetle. She was sneaking around Hogwarts during the Yule Ball and robbed the place. Too bad for her, the kids she robbed were able to prove she did it, and even supplied a memory showing Skeeter in her animagus form. After we left Hogwarts, I went to Witch Weekly to see if I could track down the film she stole. Her photographer, Bozo had it, which was a lucky break it seems. He said she brings him film a lot of times to develop, he only goes out with her for scheduled interviews. She apparently has a small camera that she keeps with her just in case a photo opportunity arises. He said usually when she brings him film to develop, she keeps the film and the negatives and any photos that don't get used for articles." She pulled a jar filled with silvery liquid and placed it on his desk with a thump. "And then he removes the memory of what he developed and puts it in here. I'm both afraid and intrigued to see what's in here. He said there were some things that once you knew them you couldn't unknow them and he didn't want any of it in his head."

"That does sound intriguing. So you were able to recover the stolen goods?"

"The film. We think Skeeter either still has the other stuff or vanished it."

"What else was taken?"

"A clipboard with a checklist that noted all the film numbers, photos that had already been developed, order forms for photos, and a hundred galleons."

"Will we be able to recover the money?"

"Yep and then some. The kids contacted Gringotts and told them what was going on. She made a deposit of a hundred galleons on the night in question, and then received payment for the stolen photos three days later, which was deposited in her account by Witch Weekly. Gringott's feels that as the kids have ample proof to show the money was stolen that they have grounds to seize it, as well as what was gained from the sale of the stolen goods." 

"No word yet on Ms. Skeeter's whereabouts?"

"Not till Shak and Dawlish get back." 

"Alright, we can worry about her later. Go get me a pensieve and we'll see what we've got here. I think Amelia has it in her office."

"Sure thing."

 

It was about a half hour later when someone returned to Scrimgeour's office, bearing a pensieve--it was not, however, Auror Crouch, it was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge was pale and shaken, his hands were wet and covered in soap and he was splattered with flecks of blood and gore.

"Minister? What on earth? Where's Auror Crouch?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything! I didn't do anything! I was washing my hands and he just came in and he exploded!"

"Who exploded?"

"Ludo Bagman! He came into the bathroom looking ill, and pulled his wand and exploded. Some pink haired girl gave me this thing and told me to come tell you what happened while she secured the scene. I didn't do anything! I swear!"

"Okay, calm down now. Why don't you give me that, there's a good lad. Why don't you go have a lie down? You don't look so good. Wait, give me your memory of what happened first."

"Take it! Please! I don't want to remember it!"

Scrimgeour took the memory and sent Fudge on his way with an escort to see he made it back to his office without passing out, and then headed down the hall to see what the hell had happened with Bagman.

 

Dora Crouch blanched when she saw him coming, and held up her hands in front of her looking apologetic. 

"I didn't think there was any harm sir, I swear! I didn't tell him any details! He asked what the pensieve was for and I told him we were investigating Rita Skeeter and needed it to view memories of all the photos she had taken. He looked sick and said he had to go and the next thing I know I hear this high, girlish scream and Minister Fudge comes stumbling out of the bathroom. I had no idea he was going to kill himself, and I didn't think the little I said was enough to be a problem." 

Scrimgeour sighed and wiped a hand down his face. This little investigation into theft from some school kids looked to be set to spiral into something much bigger.   
A knot of babbling voices coming down the hall drew both their attention. It was a group of secretaries and clerks who had been on their break and were returning. 

"Oh, hello head Auror Scrimgeour. Say, you haven't seen Amos Diggory about, have you? He really needs to send someone down to the cantina."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"It's the house elves, sir. I don't know what's wrong with the little buggers, but they've all gone mad. Rather unseemly, really."�"I know! How is anyone supposed to enjoy their tea with them all carrying on like that!"

"I don't know if they need to be put down or what, but really someone should do something." 

"What are they doing, exactly?"

"Crying, bashing their heads against walls, twisting their ears."

"I think one of them was saying something about a bad man."

"A bad man…or Bagman?"

"Bagman? Old Ludo? What would he have to do with anything?"

"Oh, look, there's Amos now. Amos! You need to go put down some feral house elves, old boy."

"Hold up, no one is being put down. Crouch, go grab some people and go interview the elves."

"Is this one of those unknowable things, do you think?"

"Looks like. Get moving."

"Uh, sir? We've got a problem!"

"What now?" Scrimgeour sighed.

"There's a goblin war party forming up to storm the Ministry unless we hand over Ludo Bagman!"

"Sweet Merlin on a stick! What the hell has that man been doing and why didn't anyone know about it!"

"Sir?"

"Head back to Gringott's, tell them Ludo Bagman is dead, and we'd like a statement, if they'd care to make one, about why they wanted him."

"Ludo's dead? Was it goblins, sir?"

"No, you ninny, he killed himself an hour ago."

"Oh, I see. I'll get right on that sir."

"You do that."

 

"Back to the grind." Dean sighed.

"I know. The holidays didn't last near long enough." Seamus agreed.

"Oh well, we've got a Hogsmeade weekend coming up in a few weeks, and then the second task of the tournament." Neville offered, hoping to cheer them.

"Yeah, that's right, innit?" Ron said, cheered.

"I wonder what sort of barbaric contest they're going to have this time?" Hermione grumbled.

"Who knows. Say, when can we expect our film back anyway?" Colin asked from nearby.

"I dunno. They just said they'll be in touch. If we haven't heard anything by the end of the week I'll give Dora a call and see if there's been any developments."

"Oh my god! Have you heard?" Lavender said breathlessly as she, Parvati, Padma and Pansy approached.

"Heard what?"

"You know Ludo Bagman?"

"Of course we do. He used to be a beater for the Winbourne Wasps. My dad's friends with him--he got us some sweet tickets to the World Cup this summer." Ron explained.

Lavender looked at him with a strange look on her face, while Pansy who was standing next to her said "EWWW!" very loudly.

"What?"

"He's a freaky house elf molestor, that's what!" Pansy said, aghast.

"Uh, come again?"

"It's true. Apparently all the house elves that work at the Ministry started freaking out yesterday after he killed himself." Lavender agreed.

"Ludo Bagman is dead?"

"Try to keep up, would you? I heard he found out they were investigating Rita Skeeter and offed himself." Padma sighed.

"It wasn't just the elves at the Ministry either. Mother took a couple of our house elves to St. Mungo's yesterday because they all went mad. She thought they were ill. It turns out that weirdo Bagman assaulted them and then obliviated them afterwards while he was at our house a couple of times." Draco added, joining them.

"I heard the goblins were all set to storm the Ministry to get him." Millicent offered, joining the crowd as well.

"He was molesting goblins as well? What a freak!" Seamus sputtered.

"The cart drivers, I heard it was. The man was a certified scumbag." Parvati agreed.

"Sweet Merlin!"  
"Bloody hell."

"So, what? They all just started remembering?" Harry asked warily.

"Yeah, after he offed himself all the obliviates he did started unravelling." Lavender nodded.

"That happens?" Katie Bell demanded.

"Apparently."

"Good Lord, and this is what we've been depending on for secrecy? We're lucky we weren't overrun by angry muggles years ago if that's the case." Draco gasped.

"Geez, you're right. Man…maybe it really is a good thing we're leaving." Neville nodded.

"Surely someone must have realized what shaky ground secrecy was resting on?" Hermione demanded.

"They must have." 

"What about the elves? Are they alright?" Luna asked.

"Well, they're upset. Whether they'll be alright eventually is anyone's guess." Lavender shrugged.

"That's so disgusting." Pansy shivered.

"The poor little elves." Hermione added.

"The goblins too. Man." Dean said.

"So, hey…you said he found out they were investigating Skeeter and offed himself. Was she blackmailing him or something?" Neville asked.

"You know, that's a good point." Ron realized.

"Hey, does this mean he killed himself because we reported her for robbing us?" Colin wondered.

"I guess it does, from a certain point of view." Neville agreed.

"Huh. Go us." was Hannah's thoughts on the matter.

"Hey, is this going to impact the tournament? Wasn't Bagman involved in it?" Lavender wondered.

"Yeah, he was. I don't know. They can't just call it off, the champions are under a magically binding contract." Padma reminded her.

"I guess whoever takes over the department will just step in to run the rest of the tournament." Draco offered.

"Well, it's not till next month, so they've got time to work out the details."

 

"Man, time sure is flying. I can't believe it's already Hogsmeade weekend." Seamus laughed.

"Hey, what happened with the film and stuff anyway? Didn't you say you were going to call and ask about it? It's been nearly two weeks." Ron wondered.

"Yeah, I know, I did call. It seems Rita Skeeter was blackmailing a lot of people besides Bagman. They're still looking for her, and they've been rounding up everyone she had dirt on, so they got a bit distracted from our case. Dora said she'd try to come out soon with the film and stuff so they could close out our case, but I don't know when that's going to be exactly." 

"What's happened with the elves and the goblins that Bagman…bothered. It doesn't seem fair none of them will get justice." Hermione wondered.

"From what I've heard, knowing he's dead and can never bother them again has been a great comfort to them."

"The poor little things. I couldn't even imagine."

"What's the big deal? They'll just dose them up with memory modifying potion. No more problem." Ron shrugged.

"Memory modifying potion doesn't get rid of bad memories, you know. All it does is push it down and make it seem like it happened a long time ago. If it's something really bad, it doesn't help, it just pushes it down and leaves it to fester. What's worse, if you get reminded of the incident it just comes bubbling back up to the surface." Harry disagreed.

"That doesn't sound good."

"Well, it's not. It's okay though, they're getting help."

"It's true. My dads worked as camp counselors in a camp for troubled kids when they were teens, Dave and Steve worked a suicide hotline, and Elanna worked for a rape crisis center. They've been running group therapy sessions for the elves." Katie Bell interjected.

"Yeah, it seems the elves at Lestrange Castle were among those that Bagman hurt. When they all freaked out they sat them down to find out what was wrong. Their sessions were helpful, so the other elves started showing up to take part." Harry added. 

"My dads think we should make them cards or something so they know that people are behind them and want them to get better."

"That's not a bad idea. Spread the word everyone. Katie, do you know the names of all the elves that are taking part?"

"I'll send dad an e-mail and get a list."

"Yeah, we can personalize the cards…maybe Susan and Hannah would agree to make little cakes for each of them."

"Oh, yeah, that would be really nice."

"I'll make dream catchers. I'm sure they've been having bad dreams since this all started." Luna added from nearby.

Lavender shivered in disgust and rubbed her arms. "I wouldn't doubt it. I'll help you."

"We should do something for the goblins too. There was some of them…"

"They all committed suicide." Harry interjected quietly. "They live by rather strict codes of honor, and they consider themselves warriors first and foremost. The knowledge that they had been repeatedly victimized and made to forget shamed them."

"That's positively medieval." Hermione whispered in horror.

"It was their choice, and it’s a deeply felt cultural thing…so far as the goblins are concerned, they acted properly and rid themselves of their shame and regained whatever honor was lost through the whole mess, and their friends and families can remember them with pride. It's not really our place to judge."

"It's awful, the poor little goblins!"

"No, no no. If you value your life you will never ever repeat those words where the goblins can hear you, they'll tear you apart…and frankly they wouldn't be wrong to do so. They were made into victims and they did what they could to not be victims but honorable warriors who faced death without flinching. Getting all weepy about the poor little goblins just makes them into victims again, and they won't have it." 

"That's ridiculous!"

"That's how they feel about it, and in this case it's their feelings about it that count. It's done, and not a goblin alive or dead will appreciate you spitting on their memory like that."

Hermione muttered angrily under her breath as they made their way towards the carriages to head down to Hogsmeade. 

"Say, where's Ginny anyway?" Neville wondered.

Ron scowled and gestured with his head to the crowd ahead of them. "She's spending the day with that berk, Michael Corner."

"Geez, the guy must be a masochist or something."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, he's been hexed like four times now for spending time with Ginny. Cho ran for the hills when she started getting hexed for spending time with me, but he's still there. Either he's stupidly crazy about your sister or he's a masochist." 

"No, I meant what is a masochist?"

"Someone who enjoys pain." 

"They have a word for that? That's barmy."

The milling group split up across several carriages and began making the slow journey down to the wizarding village.

 

"Hey, isn't that Lucius Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"And Narcissa." Harry agreed.

"I wonder what they're doing here?" 

"Lucius is going to be leaving for an extended stay in America soon. They're probably just having a bit of family time before he leaves."

"Why though?" 

"Because he's going to be gone for a while, and the next time they see each other they'll have a new baby in the family and will probably be cranky from sleepless nights? I don't know. Why are you so worried about it?"

"I'm not worried, I just wondered." Ron protested. "So, where's everyone want to go first? Eh, mate? Mate?" Ron turned to see Harry not paying attention to him, as he was staring intently at a couple standing a distance away.

"Who's that with Katie Bell? Boyfriend? I don't remember seeing him around Hogwarts…though he does look sort of familiar…"

"Yes, he does, doesn't he? How odd. I could swear I know him from somewhere." Hermione agreed.

"Hey, Harry, isn't that your godfather?"

"Huh? Where? Hey it is. Sirius!"

"Your godmother too. What is this? Parents day?" Ron complained as he peered around nervously to see if his parents were in evidence. He hoped not.

"Hey, Katie's boyfriend is coming this way." Ron pointed out, only to blanch when Harry gave him a dirty look. "What? What did I say?" He called after Harry's retreating back.

Tom, Sirius and Adeline all reached Harry at the same time. Harry looked between the two men and glared at them. "If either of you tries using me for tug of war again, I'm leaving."

"I'm sure everyone will be on their best behavior." Adeline interjected, taking Harry's arm. "It's been awhile since I've been to Hogsmeade. I guess we should head for the Three Broomsticks?"

"Or Madame Puddifoots."

"Oh? I don't recall it. I don't think it was here while we were in school."

"It's a tea shop. Tom and I went there last Hogsmeade weekend."

"Oh?" Sirius asked pseudo-casually.

"Sounds lovely. Let's go." Adeline set off, still holding Harry's arm. Sirius and Tom were left little choice but to follow them.

"Was this little get-together your idea?" Harry asked Adeline quietly.

"No, pure coincidence. I didn't realize he was going to be here. We came to visit since Sirius will be heading out with the delegation to the Americas soon. I and the other ladies decided to sit out this last leg of things since we'll all be giving birth in just a few more weeks." 

It was still early, so Madame Puddifoots only had a few patrons--teenage couples from Hogwarts staring into each other's eyes mostly. 

"Oh, this place is adorable!" Adeline commented as they entered. "I love the lamps." 

"How many in your party?"

"Four…"

"Oi! Don't forget about us mate. Eight." Ron spoke up from behind. Harry turned and found that Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna had all followed them.

"Oh, goodness…well, no matter. It will be simple enough to push a couple of the tables together. This way." Madame Puddifoot directed before bustling off. 

A couple of flicks of her wand had four of the tables in the center of the room moving together while the chairs rearranged themselves around them.   
Sirius stepped forward to get Adeline's chair for her, so Harry moved to get Luna's, before taking his seat. Hermione looked at Ron expectantly, but he had already sat down to peer at the menu. Neville stepped forward instead, before she had a chance to get angry and start yelling at him for it.  
Harry found himself in the middle of the table, with Luna and Adeline to either side of him, Tom across, with Sirius and Neville to either side of him, and Ron and Hermione at the end of the table.

"Do you want the same thing we got last time?" Harry asked Tom.

"Yes, that should be fine." 

"What did you get?" Adeline asked.

"Tea for two."

"Let's see…oh, yes, that sounds nice. I'm in the mood for a nice Darjeeling, how does that sound?"

"Whatever you want. All tea tastes the same to me." Sirius shrugged.

Madame Puddifoot returned and took everyone's orders, leaving the odd company staring at one another as they tried to think of what to talk about.

"So…we were thinking of making cards, little cakes and dream catchers for the house elves. Alex and Graham and the rest are running a house elf counseling center out of the castle, have you heard?" Harry said.

"No, but I can't say it surprises me. Those guys are real big on people talking about their feelings." Sirius snorted.

"I just hope they're not getting the elves drunk. They'll make them sick. They can't metabolize alcohol well at all. Even butterbeer is too much for them." Tom added.

"I still can't believe that. What a freak, huh? Sick bastard. Apparently Crouch sr. knew about it. He told Winky to stay out of sight if he came by. Mr. Law and Order indeed." Sirius interject, disgusted.

"I don't know if there's actually any laws against it." Adeline sighed.

"There has to be something that qualifies, and if there isn't there should be." Hermione spoke up firmly.

"His weren't the only dirty deeds uncovered. From what we've been hearing there's a whole slew of folks wanted for questioning about different things." Sirius added.

"Yeah, Dora told me. She said our theft case had kind of been put on a back burner for the time being." Harry nodded. "From what I heard they recovered the film and the money, even if none of the rest of the stuff, so all they really have to do is make time to swing by."

"Yeah, it's finding time that's apparently the problem." Sirius nodded.

Madame Puddifoot returned with their orders, and there was silence while everyone fixed their tea to their liking or sampled the array of little pastries that were brought along with it.

"So…how long have you and Katie been dating…I'm sorry, what was your name again? I don't believe I caught it." Hermione asked.

Tom glanced up and realized Hermione, Ron and Neville were all staring at him.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Katie? How long have you two been dating?"

"I'm not dating Miss Bell, I only just met her a few weeks ago. Her fathers got me drunk."

Hermione looked rather nonplussed by his answer. "Why would they do that?"

"They were trying to get me and Mr. Black to work out our differences after we got into a duel."

"I see."

"Hey, I know who you look like! It's been bugging me! You look like the Dread Warlord's son Tom!" Ron interjected excitedly.

"Hey, you know, he does." Neville realized. "What did you say your name was again?"

"I should think that was obvious, silly. He's Tom Riddle." Luna spoke up before popping a crème puff into her mouth. "Mmm. Yummy." 

"Tom Riddle? He can't be…Tom Riddle was you-know-who." Ron scoffed.

"Honestly Ron, of course he can't be him. He's far too young. He's obviously a relative of his." Hermione snapped irritably. "I understand now why you didn't want us to meet him, although your fears were unfounded. I'm hardly going to hold an infamous relative against him, and shame on you for thinking I would." Hermione sniffed, darting a glance towards Tom before hiding behind her tea cup to take a sip. Harry's eyes narrowed in irritation when he saw her cheeks were rather pink. 

"That's not why. I didn't want you and Ginny chattering at him non-stop, and I told you both as much when you were complaining about it."

"Harry said you were going to America?" Neville interjected, glancing at Sirius. "What are you going there for?"

"The move. A group of us has been travelling between quarters to spread the word and make sure everyone understands what's happening. We're all hoping things will go a bit quicker this time around, even though there's so much ground to cover. Word had started to spread eastward last time, so we didn't have to do nearly as much explaining as we thought we would, we were able to just jump into the details and what people needed to do to prepare. This is the last one, so hopefully enough info has spread that we'll be able to just jump right into the dancing."

"I certainly hope so. I'm getting very tired of making speeches." Tom sighed. 

"It's your own fault for being so good at it." Harry teased.

"You're going as well?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Yes, and I'm very grateful this is the last hurdle."

"Hard to believe, isn't it? Just a few more months."

Hermione's shoulders slumped just a bit.

"I don't know what I'm going to do when we get there. Thank goodness for my college fund, or I wouldn't be able to finish school…though I don't know how I'm going to live the rest of the time."

"Don't worry about it. Plans are in place to help folks in your situation."

"What kind of plans?"

"Several different ones to give you a few options. They'll be announced at the end of the year, so don't fret about it overmuch." 

"So, Tom…why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?" Luna spoke up. 

"Like what?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Gre…" he started to say, until he caught Harry's challenging smirk. They indulged in a brief staring contest and Tom sighed "Red."

Sirius blinked and turned to look at Tom in surprise. "Seriously?"

"Yes, so what."

"Hee hee. Gryffindor rules." 

"Your godson's favorite color is green." 

"Gryffindor still rules."

"Why were you going to lie about it? Who does that?" Hermione demanded, looking at Tom askance.

"My relatives were all Slytherins, it's not the done thing."

"Favorite food?" Luna interjected.

"I couldn't really say. I like spicy food."

"Not me. Spices give me gas."

"We know." Harry and Neville said together. Ron's farts were infamous for their toxicity.

"Too much information, boys." Adeline snickered.

"Favorite subject?"

Harry smiled expectantly at him and raised an eyebrow.

Tom sighed, and mumbled "divination."

"Oh. How nice." Hermione said with obvious disdain, not to mention disappointment.

"I like divination as well, though my favorite subject is charms." Luna replied cheerfully.

"No one ever seems to say herbology." Neville said sadly.

"Bah, herbology. I hate plants. Plants mean garden gnomes. I hate those little buggers. I've got a scar on my ankle where one of them bit me, you know. It never seems to matter how far you throw them or how dizzy you make them, they always wander back. Ginny thinks we should just hex them, but mum won't let us. She said they're good for the garden, it's just a problem when there's too many."

Tom stared at Ron, who went back to stuffing pastries in his mouth as soon as he was done talking, and then turned back to Luna to continue as though they'd never been interrupted.

"I like all branches of magic. Divination is my favorite because it's the least understood branch of magic available for study. My particular interest has always been seeking out the far reaches of what is possible. Divination, being the least understood, offers the most possibilities for such research."

"You don't have to convince me. You'll find that's how most Ravenclaws see it." Luna assured him.

Hermione looked slightly offended by that. She'd always worn her disdain of divination as a badge of pride.

"What are your hobbies?"

"Reading, researching the historical basis behind legends, searching for lost artifacts."

"Do you like sports?"

"I've never been much of an athlete, though I did take up tai chi and sword fighting a while ago." 

"Whu abow quidditsh?" Ron asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Tom asked, his lip curling just a bit. People who spoke while their mouths were full were a pet peeve of his.

"Quidditch, man, quidditch!" Ron repeated once he'd swallowed.

"What can I say, I've never really been much of a fan."

Ron looked him up and down like he was some sort of bizarre alien, huffed disdainfully and turned back to his food, muttering under his breath.

"Favorite animal?"

"Snakes. I can talk to them."

"He also likes kittens and puffskeins, but he never mentions it when anyone asks about favorite animals." Harry added with a grin.

"I like kittens and puffskeins too!" Luna chirped. "My favorite animal is the crumple-horned snorkack though."

"Speaking of snakes, how's Nagini been?"

"She's fine. I'll be taking her with me to America. She doesn't like how much I've left her behind recently. I'm sure Lucius will be relieved, she keeps trying to eat his house elves, and his peacocks…she's been trying to eat a lot of things, actually."

"What sort of snake is she?" Neville wondered.

"Reticulated Burmese python. She's about fourteen feet long, last I checked."

Ron's complexion went pasty and Hermione shivered.

"She's a bit of a prima donna, but she's sweet once you get to know her." Harry assured everyone.

"We'll take your word for it." Neville chuckled uneasily.

"You seem a to be a very interesting person, Tom Riddle. You should meet my father someday. I think you two would have a lot to talk about. You're both seekers for truth. Harry is as well, though his focus has always been more on the personal as it pertains to himself, rather than in general like it seems to be with you." Luna commented.

"Thank you?"

"You're quite welcome." 

 

Everyone finished up the last of their tea and pastries. Neville reached for his moneybag. "How much do I owe you?"

"Don't worry about it, kids, my treat."

Ron's eyes lit up and he reached for the menu to get something to tide him over till lunch, but Hermione kicked him sharply and glared at him. They drifted out to the sidewalk and began making their way back towards main street. A couple of Beauxbatons students wandered by, wearing their school cloaks, which had a pair of crossed sparkly wands on the chest.

"Oh, hey, I totally forgot about that!"

"About what?"  
"What are you talking about?"

"I got this thing that makes stuff sparkly." Harry explained.

"Why'd you want to go around making things sparkly. Sounds barmy to me, mate."

"I don't know what it was originally for, but I've got it now. I thought you might like it, Luna."

"Oooh! Present!"

Harry dug out the rod, which was six inches long and about a half inch in diameter, made up of rotating sections so you could personalize your sparkles for every occasion. Luna took the thing eagerly and began studying the symbols etched down its length, twisting and turning it as they walked. 

"I wonder if it works?"

"I don't know, I never tried it."

"Tee hee." Luna snickered as she casually brushed past yet another Beauxbatons student, a boy, and tapped him with it as she passed.

"Oooh, pretty!"

"Edward, you are all sparkly!"  
"Sacre bleu!"  
"Mon dieu!"

Luna began giggling to herself and started skipping down the center of the street, looking for other things to prettify with her new toy. 

"Hey, what's going on up there?" Neville wondered as they slipped past the Beauxbatons kids, who were all staring at the sparkly kid and poking him while babbling at one another high speed in French.

"Is that Colin? Who's the guy dragging him down the street?" Harry asked.

"Looks like Dung Fletcher, dirty thief." Sirius snorted.

"He's a thief?"

"Yeah, a real lowlife. He'd steal your granny's nightgown while she was still sleeping in it if he thought it would get him a few sickles."

"And he's robbing Colin? We need to stop him!"

"Looks like Morag is doing that right now." Hermione pointed.

Morag darted out of the crowd, grabbed Colin about the waist and pulled, just as Dung, who was fighting for possession of a jingling bag with Colin, disapparated.

"Ouch. That has to hurt." Adeline muttered.

A flailing arm was left hanging in mid-air, still clutching at the bag. Colin and Morag peeled the clutching fingers away and backed off, holding the recovered bag protectively between them.

"Security detail! Form up! Let's get them to the castle!" Michael Corner shouted in a stentorian voice from within the crowd. He, Vince, Greg, and Ernie pushed their way forward, formed up around Colin and Megan and started glaring suspiciously at the surrounding people. "Move Aside! Coming Through!" Michael shouted next, clearing and path for all of them.

"Hey, Neville, hi everyone!"

"Hey Hannah. What's going on, do you know?"

Nearby the door of the Three Broomsticks banged open, and Dora stomped out, followed by a couple of kids. She stormed over to the flailing arm and hit it with several stinging hexes. 

"I don't believe you, you dirty bastard! I just gave that stuff to those kids not five minutes ago! Damn thief! You are so going to regret interrupting my lunch hour you bastard! I'm eating for two here!" 

She sent one final stinging hex at Dung's hand and then drew an orange square on the ground surrounding the area, and then pulled some items out of her pocket and used them to make a placard and a quill to write with. She made a sign saying _"Do not help this man, he is being held for arrest"_ and affixed it to the hand with a sticking charm.

"You can just bloody well stay like that till I'm done my lunch, you hear?" 

"That lady auror brought back our film and stuff and then that smelly guy tried to steal it." Hannah explained as Dora stomped back into the inn.

"Wow, I had no idea our Yule ball pictures were such a hot commodity." Neville said in surprise.

"I think he was after the money." Tom pointed out.

"That actually makes much more sense."

"Why did Luna get a present and none of the rest of us did?" Hermione demanded suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Not you, him" she told Hannah before turning expectantly to Harry.

"It was just something I thought she'd like…and judging by how damn sparkly the village is looking, I'd say I was right."

"It's just rather rude, don't you think? Giving presents to some of your friends but not others?"

"Isn't it kind of rude to go around demanding presents from people?" Hannah asked Neville in a stage whisper.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"She's right though." Neville sighed.

"It just doesn't seem very fair."

"Geez, you are unbelievable. Here, have a frickin hair brush!" 

"What does it do?"

"According to Barty it prettys up your hair. I've never tested it."

"Oi! What about me?"

"Sorry Ron, Barty took the pain-inducing nipple clamps, so I guess you're out of luck." 

Ron's twisted up and he stared blankly into the distance.

"Alright there, Ron?" Neville asked.

"Well, it's just, it's a conundrum, innit?"

"What is?"

"All this. One the one hand, I'm not getting a present…on the other hand…"

"YOU! DEFILIER OF PETS!" a tearful wail interrupted. 

They turned to see Tom staring down at a flailing Draco Malfoy, who seemed rather distraught.

"What did you do to his pet? You're not another Ludo Bagman, are you?" Hermione gasped, glancing at Tom askance.

Tom glowered at her and then pushed Draco back; his flailing arms had nearly clipped him in the ear a couple of times.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"MR. CUDDLESWORTH IS DEAD!"

"Who the bloody hell is Mr. Cuddlesworth?"

"Did someone kill him?" Harry asked.

Tom's face sudden alit with understanding. 

"Oh…right…this is about that pink thing Nagini ate. Look, I didn't know it was a bloody puffskein, they're supposed to be custard colored, not pink!"

"You had a pet pink puffskein?" Conversation stopped for a moment as Ron fell down laughing. 

"Why was it pink?" Harry wondered.

"Strawberries. He was a darling little thing, and he absolutely adored strawberries. He ate so many of them he changed color." Narcissa explained as she approached.

"The first year I had him, he ate every strawberry on the grounds, and I didn't get a single one. He was greedy, but that's a trait I can respect. It showed he was a suitable pet for the Malfoy family." Draco sniffled. "I had to wait ages until the replacements came. Those bloody dwarves took forever!"

"Dwarves?" Hermione sputtered "What dwarves?" 

"The ones that deliver them from France. They carry the ice-packed chests on their backs. A lot of them tend to die along the way, it's a perilous journey…well, not so much now, what with the Chunnel and all." Lucius explained.

"You ordered strawberries from France and had dwarves carry them on their backs to deliver them to you and some of them died?" Hermione shrieked. "You couldn't just take a jaunt down the road to the farmer's market like a normal person?"

"First of all, it is the strawberry people that send them by dwarf. Honestly, we'd have preferred they just use owl service, they would have gotten here a lot quicker. Secondly, the only farmers in the area are muggles." 

"I don't believe you! You're so prejudiced against muggles, you would go to such lengths rather than buy strawberries from them?"

"Of course not, you silly twit. Muggles cover all their food in pesticides! Chemicals! Such things react badly amongst magic, as I would think you of all people would know! You are the brain fungus girl, right?" Lucius drawled while looking down his nose at Hermione.

"The what?!"

"They're called wrackspurts." Luna interjected.

"Whatever. I don't see why I can't just call them brain fungus. At least then you know what's being spoken about." 

"That's what it means, brain fungus." 

"In what language?"

"Gobbledygook. The goblins found the first strains of mutated bundimums, so we kept the name in their language." Luna explained.

"Oh. I only know one phrase in gobbledygook "Arhk-gla-manuk-shlungshlun" I use it every time I go to the bank."

Harry and Neville blinked as they tried to work out what Lucius had just said. Harry bit his lip, and Neville's face went red.

"Um…you tell the bankers that your penis is thick and juicy every time you go there?"

"I do what now?" 

"In light of the whole Ludo Bagman thing…I wouldn't suggest doing that anymore." Neville added.

"Dear lord, I could have been killed!"

"I want to know more about the enslaved dwarves!"

"What is it with you and the bloody dwarves?" Tom demanded. "And for your information, they're not even delivering strawberries anymore. They never went back to France after they dropped off their cargo. They set up a colony in Lucius' back yard."

"What? I have a colony of French strawberry dwarves living in my backyard?" 

"You must have seen them. They're always running around doing yardwork!" Tom huffed.

"I thought they were garden gnomes."

"They don't look anything like garden gnomes!"

"I thought they evolved to fit better with their surroundings. I mean really, you must admit, lumpy potato men aren't exactly stylish!"

"Well, yes, you're right about that."

"How do you know about the dwarves?" Harry wondered.

"I was in the garden one day and saw them and asked them how they came to be there and they told me their story. They were tricked into a contract by a French strawberry farmer and were stuck working for him for generations. However, the contract isn't valid here and they realized they were free, and what's more, there was a cave on your land, so they decided to stay."

"What happened to the garden gnomes then?" Narcissa asked.

"They conquered them and made them their butlers."

"WE ARE GETTING OFF THE SUBJECT!" Draco shrieked, tired of being ignored. "The point is…the point…what was the point…Oh, right! The point is that Mr. Cuddlesworth is dead!"

Tom glowered at him for a moment and then sighed and summoned a rock, which he transfigured into a pink puffskein and handed over.

Draco pouted at the thing and turned mournful puppy dog eyes on the former dark lord. "It's really not the same."

Tom sighed and jabbed the thing with his wand. It began purring.

Draco sniffled a bit and rubbed the thing on his cheek. "Come on fake Mr. Cuddlesworth. We need cake. Lots and lots of cake." 

Ron fell down laughing again, as Lucius and Narcissa ran off to find a good Goblin-English dictionary. 

"Oh, I forgot to ask while they were here; did Narcissa want Bellatrix's old dresses?"

"No, she didn't. She's a few inches taller than Bellatrix, and their coloring is very different. She thought it would take too much trouble to alter them for her use. The trunks are still in the ballroom." Sirius replied.

"Oddment."  
"Yes, young master?"  
"Could you bring me the trunks from the ballroom?"  
"Certainly."  
Oddment disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later with several trunks surrounding him.  
"Thanks, Oddment, that'll be all."  
When Oddment disappeared he called "Itsy."  
"Yes, master Harry? You is calling?"  
"Yeah, could you take these and find some garment racks and hang the dresses on them and put them in the back upstairs room of the Melting Pot for me?"  
"Is being no problem."

"What are you going to do with a bunch of dresses?" Hannah asked.

"Tonight after dinner I'll let the ladies of the Melting Pot have a gander at them. Anything that's left over I'll sell or donate to any of the clubs that think they can make use of them."

"Yeah? What kind of dresses are we talking about here?"

"All kinds--day robes, dress robes, duelling gear, ball gowns, you name it. There's tons of stuff packed in those trunks."

"Sweet. I could use some new clothes." Hannah chortled, rubbing her hands. 

"Uh…"

"Oh, Nev, relax. Dresses aren't evil, only people are evil. Besides…your parents are better now, and they're still in Azkaban."

"Well, yeah, there is that." 

"Let's get moving; I'm getting cold standing around out here. I do have shopping to do."

"Huh, isn't that Pam Diggory?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Who?"

"Pamela Diggory, she's married to Amos Diggory from the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." Adeline explained.

"Cedric's mum." Hannah added, watching the distant figure, who seemed to be quite distraught. "I hope everything is alright."

Mrs. Diggory spotted Cedric coming out of Honeydukes with some of his friends, and hurried to meet him, flinging herself on him when she got close enough and weeping, much to her son's surprise and alarm. Cedric wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her off towards the Three Broomsticks, his friends hurrying along behind, all of them looking concerned.

"I wonder if something happened to Amos?" Adeline fretted. 

"If it has, I'm sure we'll hear about it before long." Sirius replied.

"Oh, there's Dora, I guess she finally finished her lunch." Harry noted.

The pink-haired auror was slowly making her way through the crowd, licking her lips and rubbing her tummy, looking quite content, and a bit sleepy.

"Ah" she exclaimed as she came even with them "that really hit the spot. I just saw Pam Diggory, any clue what's wrong with her?"

"No, we just saw her a moment ago ourselves, not a clue."

"I hope Amos is alright. He seemed in fine health last I saw him."

"Yeah, me too."

"Oh, well, I guess I'll hear about it when I get back to the office. I swear, we've been run ragged since we started investigating Rita Skeeter. It should die down soon, I hope. I'd heard the last of the warrants was issued today to bring folks in for questioning. It'll be up to the courts after this--good thing too, I'm getting sick of chasing around after all the creepy lowlifes Skeeter has dirt on."

"Yeah? What kind of lowlifes?" Sirius asked curiously.

"You wouldn't believe some of the…"

"CRACK"

"What was…sonofa! Mundungus Fletcher you bastard!" Dora suddenly cursed. "Damn it, I shouldn't have stopped to talk! Now I'm going to have to go dig that rat out of whatever hole he went and crawled into! I'd better go…see you around."

"See you."  
"Bye." 

Dora did a plotting charm and disappeared with a 'crack' to hunt down Dung and haul him in for attempted robbery. 

"Wow, there's a lot going on around here today."

 

 

"Food! I'm starving!" Ron cheered.

"You're always starving. How you manage to stay so skinny, I'll never know."

Breakfast at Hogwarts was, as always, a boisterous affair, made only more chaotic by the arrival of the morning mail owls. An owl bearing the Daily Prophet landed in front of him, as well as Neville and Hermione and many others at the table. On the front page was a blazing headline with a largish photograph of Rita Skeeter.   
"Skeeter Scandals Rock Britain!" 

"Amos Diggory" Hermione whispered. "That's Cedric's father. I guess this is why his mum was so upset yesterday." 

"What? Where?"

"About halfway down the page. Amos Diggory, long of the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, was brought in for questioning yesterday regarding several blackmail photos in Skeeter's possession…"

"It says here he's been killing magical beings--goblins, veela, vampires, hags…and he's been part of a group that's been disrupting rights groups. He disrupted talks on goblin rights, and troll rights, and his interference led to the groups rampaging and hurting innocent bystanders and ended all talk of rights for said groups."

"When asked why he had done such a thing, he defended himself saying 'Someone needed to put those things in their place, and show them they don't get to go around pretending that they're people. I stand by what I did. I'm a hero!" Lavender continued.

"Weasley…" Neville said.

"Huh?"

"There' s a bunch of Weasleys in here too… Cletus, Carrackatus and Rutger."

"Hey, those are the bastards that tried to steal my house and got all shirty with me when I told them to get lost. Where are they listed?"

"Towards the bottom. It seems your house wasn't the only one. They stole fifty magical houses and all the contents. The houses they rented out to muggles, the magical items they either de-magified and sold to muggles, or they sold them to folks in the magical world if they couldn't."

"How could they just steal houses? Surely someone noticed?" Parvati wondered.

"They were all houses where the families had been killed during the war. The house and contents passed to relatives, but they usually were already living elsewhere and figured they could give the house to their kids when they were grown, but they cleaned the place out and rented it to muggles. When families complained about muggles being in their house they were told they just had to accept it, because they weren't allowed to kick the muggles out." 

"It seems they made a small fortune doing this. Skeeter kept her mouth shut about what they were doing and never reported the thefts because they were paying her a bit each month to keep her mouth shut…so was Diggory, so was everyone on this list….smugglers, black market traders, corrupt Ministry workers, prostitution rings…the list goes on and on. She could have singlehandedly helped clean up crime and been a hero to the masses if she'd ever used what she'd learned, but instead she covered it up for profit while ruining the lives of law-abiding people in her nasty gossip column." Harry said, disgusted.

"Poor Cedric. They have a big spread about him beside the more in depth article about his father further in." Lavender noted.

Across the hall there was a commotion as Cho suddenly paled, and had to be helped from the great hall by her friends.

"There's a picure of Cho and Cedric together in there as well." Parvati explained.

"Poor Cho. Nobody better send her anything nasty, or they're going to answer to me."

"What about me? Cletus is my uncle, and Carrackatus and Rutger are my cousins!" Ron complained. 

"I doubt you have to worry too much, I mean, your family doesn't have the best reputation…not your immediate family, I mean the rest of them. Most folks will probably just shrug and not be surprised." Neville replied.

"That helps a lot, thanks." Ron growled back before glowering at the paper.

"There's also the fact that there's like 50 million of you. I don't think anyone's going to chance bringing down the wrath of the red-headed horde on their heads." 

"I wonder where Cedric is, he didn't come to breakfast." Seamus noted.

"If you knew it was going to be all over the papers that your dad had been off killing fairies in his spare time, would you have shown up?"

"This is terrible. The second task is in just a few days. How is he supposed to concentrate?" Hermione fretted.

"He might actually welcome the task. When you've got stuff on your mind that you don't want to think about, having something that takes up your attention can be a relief." Harry sighed.

"He doesn't really have a choice. He's under a magically binding contract. He has to compete." Neville reminded them.

 

Cedric stayed out of sight the remainder of the weekend, though he had to return and face the public come Monday when classes were back in session. He had only bought himself a short bit of time, not escaped altogether. The paper continued carrying articles about the various misdeeds Skeeter had been covering up as those questioned were slated for trial. Rita Skeeter herself was still at large, but most figured it was only a matter of time before she was found. 

The days passed, and before they knew it, it was the day of the second task. After lunch was over, everyone bundled up and went trooping down to the lake. 

Bleachers had been set up on both sides of the lake, while a floating barge had been installed at one end, and at the other were four large view screens set up in a square

"I wonder if this task will be as exciting as the last one. I had nightmares about snarling dragons for weeks!" Hannah shivered.

"I don't like to speak ill of the dead…but Ludo Bagman really did the world a favor when he offed himself." Susan Bones commented as they took their seats.

"I don't disagree, but why do you think that specifically?" Harry asked.

"My aunt told me that they discovered he'd been embezzling tournament funds left and right. He told the Ministry that the foreign schools refused to allow them to use dragons from Britain for the first task, and insisted they be brought in from elsewhere, and then told them it was so expensive to import them that they were short on funds for the remainder of the tournament and couldn't do everything they'd planned--like have seeing eyes follow the champions and project images up onto view screens. If he hadn't of killed himself, we'd have been stuck watching the top of the lake for an hour while the champions were under water completing their tasks!"

"What a tool." Dean snorted. "Geez, it's a bit nippy out here." 

The three champions stepped out onto the barge in swimsuits and lined up by the edge of the water.

"I don't envy the champions having to take a swim in this weather." Harry said

"Yeah…you can't even appreciate the sight of Cedric in swimwear--he's blue and his skin is all goosebumpy." Hannah agreed.

"He looks tired…and like he's recently lost weight." Lavender sighed.

"He has. All that business with his dad has really taken a toll on him." Susan agreed.

"Attention! Our champions will now set out to complete the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Earlier, persons of import to our champions were taken to a hidden spot beneath the lake. The champions have one hour to retrieve their loved ones! Champions, are you ready?"

The three shivering teens nodded and leapt into the lake when the signal was given.

"Bubblehead charms…they should have gone with gillyweed." Neville shook his head.

"What's that then?" Ron wondered.

"It's a plant from the Mediterranean. If you eat it, it gives you gills and flippers and lets you swim like a fish and breath underwater till it wears off. It's popular with pearl divers down there." Neville replied.

"Oh wow, Viktor Krum just gave himself a shark head. He looks really scary." Hannah noted.

"Look at the hostages." Dean pointed to one of the view screens that had been set up alongside the lake. "They look like they're dead!"

"Hermione! What's she doing down there?" Ron gasped.

"I had wondered where she was. It's been rather quiet without her huffing about how barbaric it all is." Harry said with some surprise.

"Bloody Krum!"

"Gabrielle Delacour and Cho are down there too." Luna noted.

"Cedric said the clue song said what was taken would be lost forever if they couldn't retrieve it…" Susan said worriedly.

"You don't really think they'll leave them down there?" Hannah objected.

"I dunno, would they? I mean, the tournament was outlawed for a reason--high death tolls." Ron worried.

"Wow, this really is barbaric." Susan shivered.

The view on the screens was creepy in the extreme. Each of the champions seemed to hover alone in the midst of darkness, from which unexpected dangers would suddenly appear without warning.   
The swimmers dodged entangling seaweed, schools of fish with sharp teeth, eels and jellyfish and jutting rocks that loomed out suddenly from the murk as they made their way through the frigid waters. 

"Oh! What are those?"

"Grindylows…water demons, a whole swarm of them. She can't get rid of them fast enough." Luna explained.

As they watched, breathless with tension, Fleur Delacour writhed in the grip of the small pests, who pulled her down to the lake bed while she struggled. Although she was obviously terrified, and was beginning to sprout small bruises and cuts all over herself, many of the boys in the audience watched entranced while shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

"That's…hot." Seamus muttered.

"You creep! They're hurting her!" Susan hissed.

"Give me a break, she's a veela in a bathing suit, and she keeps twisting and writhing and throwing out her chest…just like that. I'm only human!."

"Ugh! Boys!"

"Viktor's found them! Where's Cedric?" Hannah fretted.

"Dodging creepy eels. Hermione's free. Go Cedric."

"What about the little girl? Fleur is still captured. Oh! We can't let her be drowned!" Susan gasped.

"They look like they're dead, so they're probably under draught of living death. They're not even breathing. Unless they really underestimated how much to give them they should be fine. If they let the little girl die, it will probably start a war, and I doubt anyone wants that." Harry tried to reassure her.

"There's Cedric! He got Cho!" Hannah cheered.

"Hey, veela girl just went limp! Did they drown her?" Dean asked.

"She's got a bubblehead on, she won't drown unless it wears off. Grindylows have venom that paralyzes their prey." Luna assured him.

"Merfolk!" Susan pointed.

As they watched, a duo of mermen came and scattered the grindylows, retrieved Fleur from their clutches and began swimming her towards the surface.

"Viktor just surfaced! Four minutes before the hour, not bad." Lavender said.

"There's Fleur, they're hauling her out now…looks like their giving her an anti-venin." Luna noted.

Fleur struggled to her feet, white faced and tried to throw herself back in the lake, but the judges wouldn't let her. She started crying, but she was still weak from the grindylow venom and couldn't get past them.

"It just hit the hour mark…where's Cedric?" Hannah worried.

"One minute past…wait, there he is!"

"What about the little girl?" Susan demanded.

Fleur collapsed sobbing to the ground as the screens all went black.

"Oh god!"

Fleur looked up, crazed, desperate and sobbing and suddenly seemed to glow as she purred in an unearthly voice that seemed to carry to every corner **"Save her. Save Gabrielle".** Almost instantly, nearly every male in the vicinity surged to their feet and tried to fling themselves in the lake. Dumbledore stunned Fleur in the back and her glow winked out, leaving quite a few men and boys shrieking as they desperately tried to get back out of the icy water.

"He stunned her!" Hannah gasped.

"Desperate men throwing themselves in the lake is a bad idea. She could have drowned everyone." Lavender realized.

"Wait! Look, merfolk…and they've got Gabrielle!" Luna said in relief.

"She saved! Oh thank goodness!" Susan gasped.

"Ah geez, accio Colin!"

Everyone leaned down to see Colin pulled from the lake to land on the shore with a skid.

"His damned camera was pulling him under."

Colin coughed up some lake water and stumbled to his feet, giving Harry a cheerful thumbs up, before waddling off towards the castle, wringing out his robes as he did so.

"So…Viktor now has a solid lead, Cedric is second place and Fleur third." Neville recounted.

"There's still one more task, Cedric can still win." Hannah said cheerfully.

"Let's hope so, it'd be nice to have a win like that for Hufflepuff…maybe people will stop saying we're all a bunch of duffers." Susan agreed.

"Whether Cedric wins or loses, he was still chosen as the best representative of our school. Hufflepuff gets the glory regardless. Anyway, only idiots think Hufflepuffs are duffers. We all know you're cool, that should be plenty." Neville assured them.

They passed the medical tent on their way back to the castle. Cedric's mom was there hugging him. He looked pretty woebegone. A shaken, worse for wear Fleur was heading towards her carriage with a death grip on her little sister. The only one who seemed to be in good spirits was Viktor--he had won the task, and was currently first place in the tournament, he had no family scandals gracing the papers, and he and Hermione seemed to be getting rather cozy.

 

"I'm going to go see how the booths did."

"We'll come with you."

The souvenir booths set up by the different clubs once again seemed to be doing a booming business.

"Hey, Harry!" Dennis waved. "You just missed the press. Some girl from Witch Weekly was down here interviewing all of us. We might have our pictures in the next issue."

"Oh? What were they interviewing you about?"

"The clubs, Rita Skeeter robbing us, the souvenir booths, what we plan to do after school, all kinds of stuff."

"Well, they say any publicity is good publicity, though I guess we'll find out when the article comes out. Hopefully this girl isn't another Rita Skeeter; I'd be rather afraid of what sort of scandal she'd try to make from a bunch of school clubs."

"Yeah…let's hope it's not like that. I don't want to get hexed mail."

"How'd the take go anyway?"

"Pretty good--the posters with the dragons from the first task were all big sellers, so were the limited edition statuettes of the champions and their dragons, we sold a few more programs…and we managed to sell off most of the decorative photo frames that didn't get sold when we were selling Yule Ball photos."

"Excellent. That's what I like to hear."

"These tournament events are kind of anti-climactic, aren't they?" Hannah mused as they trooped back up to the castle. We wait months, and then it's over in an hour, and then it's back to afternoon classes." 

"Yeah, it might have been better had it all been done at once over a week or something, maybe at the end of the year. Of course, if the real point was not only for the schools to compete against each other, but also to give students nearing marriageable age a chance to mingle with those outside their normal pool of prospects, it makes sense they do it this way. Of course, if that's what the point is, they really should have socials for the sixth and seventh years so they have an actual chance to mingle. They don't really have a chance to with classes, and the foreign students are staying on their ship and in their carriages, so they don't even get to hang out with them afterwards either."

"Well…maybe we should organize something, since the staff don't seem to be doing so." Parvati suggested.

"Or, we could mention it to some of the older kids and let them organize something. The twins are sixth years. I'm sure they'd be up for organizing a party." Ron shrugged.

"The twins are fun, but their idea of a great party will probably involve a lot of explosions and people turning into things or changing colors." Hannah laughed.

"Okay, then we can just speculate about what a loss it is to all of them to not be having socials where they can mingle and get to know the foreign students in front of them, and see if any of the sixth or seventh years runs with the idea." Harry suggested.

"Or we can just go and talk to Professor Sprout and she'll assign someone to do so. It would probably be simpler." Susan objected.

"Whatever works."

"Well, back to the grind we go." Neville sighed as they entered the castle. "I hate to say it, but I'm almost afraid of what next year is going to be like. They're really laying on the work this year."

"From what Cho told me, fifth year is actually a lot easier under the new curriculum. One through four are now tougher, because they're cramming a lot more in to less time. Fifth through seventh are a little simpler because they're cramming a bit more into more time, since you now have three years to do NEWT level studies. She said the work is more complex, but you get a bit more time to understand it, so it seems to work out alright." Luna explained.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Me too. I've been wondering if I'd be forced to drop out before NEWTs because I couldn't cut it anymore. I think my hands are going to be permanently disfigured from writing essays at this rate." Seamus laughed.

"Invest in a dicta-quill. It helps." Harry suggested.

"I might just do that."

"Mmm. Lunch smells good. I'm starving."

"Ron, you're always starving. Hey, what's going on there?"

"Oh, Colin and Morag must have finished developing the pictures. Good. I know everyone was beginning to get irritated by how long it was taking." Lavender realized.

Colin and Morag were indeed handing out packages to the different tables, as were several other kids that had been recruited to help. 

"Hey, guys!" Morag greeted them cheerfully. I've got yours and yours right here."

"Oooh, let's see!" Hannah squealed as Neville took the package.

"Okay, okay, give me a second. They turned out nice. You look great."

"Thanks…you look pretty good yourself."

Harry pulled out two frames and six photos. He put one of the frames back, and half the photos and handed the package to Ron to give to Ginny. 

"What are you going to do with yours?"

"Shrink the lot and send it to Sirius and Adeline, I guess. We're not dating, so it's not like I'm going to stick it up on my bedside table or anything." 

"Good. That would be weird." Ron said with some relief. "I still can't believe mum got her a dress like that. And she tries to say she doesn't show favoritism. You saw what she sent me for dress robes! Typical."

Harry just smiled and nodded. He didn't bother to correct him. Hedwig flew into the hall just as Harry finished shrinking the framed photos.

"Hello, clever girl. Let me write a little note to go with it, and then it's all yours, alright?"

"Oh, the pictures are ready? Where's Viktor? He probably has ours." Hermione said rather breathlessly.

"Weren't you just with him?"

"I had to go get changed. They took me last night, and I was wearing one of those Bellatrix dresses. It was the strangest thing, really. Headmaster Dumbledore looked me up and down and made a face at me and started lecturing me about being ashamed of my muggle heritage. He said that while I looked nice, I really should stick to what I usually wear, although he was glad to see I had forgone trousers as he thought women shouldn't wear them. Can you imagine? But anyway, I did a drying charm on myself but I was still feeling a bit clammy--I'm not used to all the layers. My crinolines were still a bit damp. I had to get changed in any case, since I wasn't in my uniform."

"You've been using that hairbrush, haven't you?"

Hermione patted her hair self-consciously. "So what if I have?"

"Nothing, I was just saying is all."

"It's marvelous, isn't it? I had to use a whole bottle of sleakeazy for the ball to get my hair smooth, and it took me over an hour to do it. Since I've gotten that brush, I just have to go over it a few times every morning and evening to get it like this."

Hermione's hair, usually a big bushy mess of tight curls around her head was now hanging in smooth waves down her back and around her face. Her hair was surprisingly long, something one didn't normally realize given how tightly curled it was, hanging to her hips almost. 

"It really is the nicest present I've ever gotten. I wish I'd had it years ago. I'm sure my years in primary school would have been much more pleasant."

"Where did you get that brush from anyway? I want one." Lavender asked.

"I got it from Harry."

"I got it from Bellatrix Lestrange's house. I have no idea where she got it."

"Do you know where I could find out?"

"Haven't a clue."

Lavender sat back looking sulky, but then brightened once more. "If I took that brush to the cunning artificers, do you think they could make more? We could probably make a mint on them at the end of year fair."

"I don't want them to break it though! It's the best brush I've ever had!"

"I'm sure they won't break it."

"I'm sure I could analyze it just fine and recreate what was done." Hermione objected. "It's my brush. If anyone's going to make money off of it, it's going to be me."

"Finally found your capitalist spirit, did you Hermione? Too bad it only came up now. If Bellatrix bought that brush somewhere, someone else probably already owns the patents on whatever charm combination was used."

Hermione just sniffed, looked disappointed and put her nose in the air, before running off in search of Viktor to get her pictures.

 

As they were heading in to potions class, Harry remembered his conversation with Hannah and Susan about the sixth and seventh years not having a chance to socialize with the foreign students. "Hey, professor?"

"Yes, Harry my dear boy, something you needed?"

"Just a question to sooth my curiosity."

"Ask away, dear boy."

"Why haven't the staff organized any socials for the upper years and the foreign students…other than the Yule Ball, I mean? It seems a wasted opportunity, don't you think, to build strong personal ties amongst the populace in our little corner of the world?"

"I myself have actually hosted a few small get-togethers for a few of the more exceptional upper years, but you're right, it is rather a travesty that nothing more was done. I was going to hold a little Christmas soiree, but I'm afraid the Yule Ball made that quite impossible."

"Well, the Easter holidays are coming up."

"So they are. I shall have to think more on this. Goodness…look at this, five minutes past when class should have begun, you naughty boy, no more trying to get out of working!" Slughorn scolded playfully. "Alright everyone, turn your textbooks to page three hundred and ninety. Over the next few weeks, we'll be covering some of the more complicated potions that sometimes make their appearance on the OWLs…" 

 

It was the weekend again, and the lower year students were in the Melting Pot as they usually were when not in class.

"You know, we really are crowded down here anymore. Do you think it's maybe time to look for new quarters again?" Harry realized.

"What, add a few more rooms?" Neville wondered.

"Maybe just move the whole operation somewhere else. I mean, yeah, this location has worked for us so far, but back in the very beginning we were hiding. We're established enough that we don't really have to hide anymore. Maybe it's time to look for someplace more central."

"Like where?"

"Actually, I may know just the place. It's still rather off the beaten path, even though it's actually right at the heart of the castle."

"Where?"

"Apparently the staff used to be able to bring their families to live with them, once upon a time. I don't know when exactly that stopped being the case, but there it is. There's a hidden passage that gives you access to the area, and there's even a courtyard in the center--you can't get onto the grounds from there, as it was intended as a play area for any children too young for Hogwarts so they could go outside, but not mix with the older kids who were going to school here. The whole place will need to be cleaned pretty thoroughly, but I think it really will be perfect for our needs. There's a large room that serves as a gateway to the whole section that could serve as the new Melting Pot, or maybe the new party room…we'll have to see once we make a complete survey of the place. We'll be able to go outside without going too far from the clubhouses, what do you think?"

"It's certainly worth looking into…though it will be odd to move out of the dungeons after we've all spent so much time down here." Millicent shrugged.

"I want in on the moving committee!" Hermione announced suddenly as she stood, hands on her hips. 

"Geez, calm down. You can be on the committee, relax." 

Hermione sat down, a trifle embarrassed at her outburst, especially since a lot of people were looking at her oddly. 

"Stop looking at me like that. All the committees were always being set up when I wasn't around. I didn't want to get left out again!"

"It's not really that big a deal." Goyle told her.

"Right, that's why there are photos of all the committees lining the walls in the entryway. Don't patronize me. I want in." 

"If I appoint you to be on a committee, wouldn't that make me your patron? Learn to speak English." Harry quipped.

"You want to get hexed, don't you?"  
"Bring it on!"

"Guys! Geez, calm down. No hexing!" Hannah scolded, glaring at Harry and Hermione both until they settled back in their seats. "Who else wants to be on the relocation committee?" 

A few hands went up around the room. 

"Alright, come on. We can go do the initial survey and some preliminary cleaning right now." Harry said, standing.

Hermione jumped to her feet, eager to be off. 

"Oi, Colin, why don't you or Morag come too. You can take photos for The Melting Pot: A History--the Final Move"

"How do we know it's the final move though? Something might happen that makes the clubs have to be relocated someday." Neville wondered.

"It sounds better than 'one move among many in the years to come."

"Well, yes, there is that." 

They ran into a few fifth years entering the room as they got ready to leave.

"You're all in high spirits, what's going on?"

"Apparently they're going to have a party for all the fifth, sixth and seventh years along with the foreign students."

"Nice. What kind of activities are they going to have?"

"Um, I don't know. The teachers just told us about it in class earlier."

"You don't think they're just going to stick us in a room with a buffet table, do you?"

"Probably. That's most people's definition of a party--a group of people and food. Maybe music."

"You know, he's right. Maybe we should do something to make the party more fun."

"Yeah, otherwise we'll probably all just end up standing around talking to all the people we usually do." 

The fifth years wandered off deep in discussion about what sort of party games and mingling strategies they could come up with to make the planned party more fun, while the new relocation committee headed out to survey their future quarters.

 

"It's just through here." Harry pointed, before ducking around a standing statue of a faun playing pan pipes. There was a short passage accessible behind the statue that led into another, much dustier corridor.

"How'd you even know about this place?" Hermione wondered.

"The house elves, how else? They know pretty much everything there is to know about the castle. They're the ones who told me all that stuff about families once living here too."

The corridor they found themselves in was a little narrower than the ones elsewhere, though not by much. It was obvious it had been some time since anyone was back there as there was not only dust, but cobwebs draping the hallway. He led them down to a set of large double doors, which he opened wide before striding inside. Inside was a large chamber with a vaulted ceiling, with another set of large double doors at the other end.

"It's chilly in here." Colin shivered.

"Those doors over there lead out to the courtyard, and there's no fire lit in here--hasn't been for a while, remember." 

They headed for the outer doors and found themselves in a courtyard overlooked by the inner parts of the castle. It was a fairly decent sized place, with large round planters with benches around the outer edges placed strategically throughout the space, while the rest was open--perfect for small children to run around and play small games in. There were a number of doors opening onto the space that they could see from there. 

"Those were private quarters for the families. There's another big room over there. From what the elves told me, one was a group classroom for the little kids, the other was a group dining room with a small kitchen behind it. Some of the folks brought their own house elves with them, so they worked just this area, while the Hogwarts elves looked after the rest of the school. That's why it's so dirty down here, there's been no one looking after it since they stopped letting families live here."

"I wonder why they stopped?"

"I guess with the invention of the floo it wasn't seen as being necessary; the professors can floo home on weekends if they want to. I don't know really." 

"Well, it works out to our benefit. Let's take a look around."

There were twelve separate quarters, plus the two large rooms. Each had a couple of large rooms on the bottom floor and four smaller rooms on the upper. Each had its own bathroom, complete with tub and sink, and stone window boxes beneath the windows on the upper floor which looked out over the courtyard. The large room they'd first come through was the only way to access the rest of the area, as none of the quarters had doors leading into the castle proper, just to the courtyard.

"I was thinking the big clubs that have a lot of stuff get a whole section to themselves. All the smaller clubs that just have people sitting around talking and what have you, we can split up individual quarters to give them their own space within it. We'll have to get some numbers for those so we can apportion the space fairly."

"I think we should put the cunning artificers close to where the kitchen is; some of them were talking about trying their hands at smelting." Draco suggested.

"Some of the art folks were talking about pottery. With a little finagling those big ovens in there could serve both their purposes." Dean added.

Okay, so the artificers and the artists get the quarters on either side of the dining room. I guess we'll make the big room between them the party room so it won't be in use most of the time when they want access to the kitchens for projects. The gateway room will be the Melting Pot. I guess we put the puppeteers and the printing club to either side of that."

"Photography club on one of the sides, The accounting office and archives should get the others nearby…who gets the last one?" Morag suggested.

"The fashion club. They were talking about making some of their designs and having shows at some point. They'll need the space." Harry realized.

"So the ones left on the other side will be the small clubs then. That should work." 

"We should probably move all the bathrooms downstairs and put them close to the doors so they're easy to access." Hermione noted.

"How about just in the area holding the small clubs? We'll leave the large clubs with theirs upstairs, so it's just for them. The multi-use quarters will be public bathrooms."

"What about the saunas?" Morag asked.

"Uh…have them open off the party room. Maybe we should just make it the 'general purpose room' instead--parties, tai chi, sword practice, saunas, etc."

"That'll work."

"So, are we agreed? This place is a good place to move to?"

"Yeah, it seems perfect. It should be nice during the warmer weather especially." Colin agreed.

"Alright. I guess we'll spread the word that we're having a general meeting then. Have everybody go the same place where we had the rebellion meeting tonight after dinner and we'll announce the move then."

"You know…we've accumulated a lot of stuff in the time we've been in the dungeons. We might have to set up a logistics committee to make sure the move goes smoothly." Dean realized.

"I want to be on it!" Hermione replied immediately.

"Sure, whatever. Do you know who the organized people are in the clubs?" Harry sighed.

"Um, yes…I believe so."

"Great. Get them together and go to town." 

Hermione's eyes blazed and her back straightened with purpose. "I'll go do that right now." she assured everyone before marching off.

"You made her head of the logistics committee?" Draco asked.

"Sure. She wants to prove herself and get her picture on the wall, she also likes bossing people around, and she's very organized. I'm sure it'll be fine." 

"And if it's not, the committee will just expel her. No problem." Neville shrugged.

"Alright, let's spread out and start cleaning. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

They were about halfway done with the rooms, when the Grey Lady came drifting through a wall and into the courtyard. She slowed to a stop as she took notice of them. 

"Oh…what are all of you doing here?"

"Good evening, milady. We're tidying up the place so we can move in."

"Oh? Are you staff? No…you're in uniform, you're all still students. Are you related to some of the professors then? Why are you moving in so late? It's winter" she realized, glancing around at the snow covered courtyard. "Term started months ago."

"You know our clubhouse in the dungeons?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"We're getting crowded down there so we're going to move the location. We figured there was only so many times we could add doors and make a maze down there before it started becoming a problem. This place hasn't been used in a while, and it offers more than enough room for our needs, so we thought we'd move here."

"It will be strange having people in here again…I must admit it will be nice to not see everything so derelict anymore. I grew up in these quarters you know. Right over there in fact." The Bloody Baron drifted through the wall and slowed to a stop when he spotted all of them. "Godric and his family were over there. Salazar's family was there. The rest were all Helga and her brood."

"Uh…"

"She had a lot of children. They and their families pretty much ran the place until she tamed the house elves and set them to doing some of the tasks as her descendants began moving away to live and work elsewhere. This whole place used to be full of life…then everyone started growing up and moving off, Salazar and his family left… It was always rather disheartening to come through here and see everything so barren and empty. It will be nice to see this old place in use once more. What are your plans exactly?"

They told her how they had decided to portion the areas up, and some of their ideas for the kitchens nearby.

"You could easily use the ovens there for pottery with little trouble, I'd think…you'd be better off just using the smithy for the rest."

"We have a smithy?"

"Yes, out on the grounds somewhere. I can't imagine it isn't still there."

"Do you know where on the grounds?"

"The Baron will show you. He knows where it is."

The ghosts lost interest in them at that point and wandered off again, the Baron following in the Grey Lady's wake. 

"Um, Baron?" Neville called after him.

The Baron slowed, watched the Grey Lady disappear and then sighed before drifting back to hover by Neville. 

"I can't go through walls. How about I meet you in the entry hall and we go from there?"

"After dinner then, fine idea!" the Baron assured him before hurrying after the Grey Lady.

 

By the time all of them returned to the Melting Pot, they'd found Hermione had already gotten the Logistics Committee together, and had founded a few other committees as well--all with her as the head.

"I realized there might need to be some adjustments made to the ovens to use them for smelting. We're going to research and…"

"Nope. The Grey Lady stopped by after you left. She said the ovens were fine for pottery, but not smelting, however there's already a smithy of some sorts on the grounds somewhere. The Baron is supposed to show Neville where it is after dinner, so the kitchen research committee is hereby declared defunct. What's the other committee for?"

"A committee to make adjustments that we researched for the kitchens."

"Also defunct…although the smithy might need some work and adjustments made"

Hermione's face glowed in triumph

"However, as it is members of the Cunning Artificers who will likely be working there, I'll let them set up the committee to get it in working order as it will be a learning experience for them." 

Hermione's face fell.

"But, if they need any research done, I'll let them know to give you a call." Harry smiled, patted her on the head and wandered off.

"See, this is why you didn't get put on any committees--you start getting delusions of grandeur and try to take over everything." Draco sniffed.

"Yeah, see if you get put on any more. You're not the only person down here you know." Morag agreed.

Hermione glowered at all of them indignantly and stomped off to stand in a corner, pouting and sulking.

The rest of the relocation committee watched this, shook their heads and wandered off as well, leaving her to her indignation.  
Shortly after they'd left, Ron wandered past and slowed to a stop.

"Oi, Hermione…why are you standing in the corner? Are you being punished or something? Tough break that."  
Hermione scowled at him.

 

The next several days were rather busy for all of them; there was a lot to do to get the new location up and running. The security team went in first to get everything up to snuff and set up the failsafes and backups that had been so instrumental in proving they'd been robbed. Once they were done, the actual move was able to progress. While the logistics team got everything packed and transferred, the relocation committee scoured the halls of Hogwarts for seating and decorations for the smaller club spaces, and the signage committee got to work putting up signs to designate the new spaces. Once everything was cleared out of the old space, the security and relocation team got to work restoring the dungeons to their former state. 

While this was going on, the Witch Weekly article about the clubs came out, alongside coverage of the tournament. Viktor Krum, and the clubs were the only ones who fared well--Cedric's mention was peppered with references to his father's misdeeds and upcoming trial, Fleur was lambasted for recklessly endangering the men of Britain and being unable to complete the task. Viktor's report was a grudgingly approving recounting of his performance in the task, peppered with references to his performance at the World Cup the summer previous. 

The Melting Pot and associated clubs got a three page spread about how awesome they all were, complete with a report of their 'non-violent protest', the arts programs that had flourished since the Melting Pot's inception, their work selling souvenirs to gather money for club activities--which the wretched Rita Skeeter stole. The article came complete with photos of several of the students manning the booths, Colin and Morag roaming with their cameras, and a photograph of Harry, Cho, Neville, Hannah, Vince and Millicent from Hogsmeade, which had been used previously in a Skeeter article--the very one that garnered so much hate mail for poor Cho. In the section where the photo appeared was a glowing report of Harry himself and his quest to bring unity to the school and improve the state of education, with brief mention of the new and improved Board of Governors who had helped make it all possible. 

"Wow, it's so amazing. Who knew when we had that first meeting back in first year that we'd be getting written up someday!" Lavender squealed.

"Only Harry gets mentioned by name though." Ron groused rather sourly before handing the magazine back to Ginny. "Harry Potter's so awesome, blah, blah, blah. Where's my glory, huh? It's always Harry, Harry, Harry." 

"Of course he's mentioned by name, he started everything! Geez! Instead of complaining, do something worth writing about!" Parvati scolded. 

Ron just scowled at Harry and hunkered down over his breakfast looking sulky. 

Harry ignored him--he'd had enough of that kind of brattiness growing up with Dudley; unlike there, he didn't have to put up with it here.

"It was a rather nice article wasn't it? A lot better than the last couple I was mentioned in."

 

The article in Witch Weekly had much further repercussions than just being good publicity, as Harry found out a few days later, just before the next Hogsmeade weekend took place. A Gringott's owl bearing a letter landed in front of him at breakfast. Harry took the letter and fed the owl some bacon, before opening it. He read through the letter once, then again, unable to quite believe his eyes.

"Oh. My. God."

"What? What is it?!" Hermione demanded, trying to take the letter. Harry moved the letter out of her reach and smacked her reaching hand before digging out his phone. Dean, help me out here. Club presidents meeting, now."

Dean shrugged and dug out his own phone and started making calls himself. Once all the club heads were notified, Harry stood and headed for the entryway. Hermione bit her lip, eaten alive with curiosity, and then scrambled out of her seat to follow, but when she reached the entryway they were nowhere to be seen. Stamping her foot in irritation she stalked back into the great hall, only to discover that breakfast was ending and everyone was headed her way to go to Hogsmeade for the weekend. She saw Viktor headed her way, so went to meet him instead, pulling her cloak and scarf from the bottomless pouch she'd recently made herself. 

"Oi! Hermione! There you are. Where'd you run off to? Nevermind, I don't actually care. Come on, Hogsmeade is awaiting. Where's Harry?" Ron asked.

"I don't know where Harry is; he and the others ran off."

"Oi, Vicky, you can run along. You're not wanted here." Ron scoffed to Viktor, before taking Hermione's arm to steer her away. He was rather flabbergasted when Hermione pulled her arm away, looking apologetic.

"Um, Ron…I'm going to Hogsmeade with Viktor." She shrugged and started for the door. Viktor, who hadn't appreciated him trying to butt in on his date, smacked him in the back of the head as he passed, and then slung a possessive arm over Hermione's shoulders.

A vague unsettled rage swamped through his body. He wasn't sure exactly why he was so pissed off--well, he hadn't like that bastard Krum smacking him--he just knew he was. He stomped around kicking the walls and cursing a blue streak under his breath; the other students coming out of the great hall took a wide detour around him. He got tired of everyone pointing and staring, so he wandered back towards the kitchens to get a snack, and got distracted by the sound of people cheering in excitement. He followed the sound to an abandoned classroom and opened it, only to find Harry and the various club heads doing a happy dance in the middle of the room.

"Um…is this a private party or can anyone join in?" 

"It's amazing, mate! Witches everywhere sent us money because of that article! They all thought Skeeter robbing us was rotten. We're rolling in it!" Dean laughed.

"Yeah? Wow…what kind of money are we talking about here?"

"Thousands man, thousands."

"You're barking!"

"No, it's true. I got a letter from Gringott's earlier. A whole lot of witches read Witch Weekly, and it looks like almost all of them each sent in a galleon or two and it added up."

"We can not only replace the shoddy school brooms, we can actually afford a few things on every club's wish list"

"And we can get a goblin in to replace the parts of the smithy we can't restore."

"We have got it made!"

"We're in the money! We're in the money!" the kids started singing as they once again began dancing around the room.

"I should write back to Gringott's and see when they can send someone out. I've already been quoted a price, and we can more than afford it." Draco decided. 

"We should write to the broom companies and see if we can get a discount on a large order."

"We'll be able to get in a video camera and start doing live action and not just still photography!"

"We're in the money!"

"What on earth is going on back here!" 

"Professor McGonagall! It's good you're here. I'll be sending out a letter today. Sometime during the week a goblin or two will be coming by to finish restoring the smithy. You'll need to let them in and direct them when they get here. I'll give you an exact time as soon as I know more."

"What? I don't recall the headmaster mentioning anything…"

"No, we're restoring it, but there's some parts that we can't make because we don't have a working smithy. Don't worry, we can pay for it." 

"Say, how many school brooms do we need if we're going to replace them?"

"Do you think Madame Rosmerta has enough butterbeer on hand to supply a 'hooray we're stinking rich party'?"

"Say, do you know if the third task will be watcher friendly? I don't want to waste our first live action film on crap!"

McGonagall rubbed her temples as all the kids began talking at once.

"Start at the beginning…one at a time, please!"

 

While the students were down in Hogsmeade, many of the teachers were enjoying the quiet and spending a few hours kicking back in the teacher's lounge. Sprout was the first to note McGonagall's entrance.

"Minerva! Has something happened?" Flitwick asked.

McGonagall took a seat and shook her head bemusedly as she threw back the shot of scotch Slughorn was kind enough to supply her with. "Relax, nothing bad has happened, I'm just a little shocked."

"What is it then?"

"You know that article about the children's little clubs that was in Witch Weekly a little while ago?"

"Yes?"

"Apparently the readership was so outraged at Skeeter's theft and the difficulties it made for them that a good number of them sent in donations. Oh, here, Rolanda, this is for you. The children were going to write to the broom companies, but I told them it would probably be better if you did it." She tossed a jingling bag that landed with a thump in front of Madame Hooch, the flying instructor. Hooch opened the bag and whistled at the pile of galleons inside. "What's all this?"

"Four hundred and fifty galleons. It's your budget to replace the school brooms, courtesy of the Melting Pot. Apparently we'll be getting visited by goblins sometime this week so the smithy can be restored, of all things. I told them it was a daft thing to waste money on, as we don't have a smith on the grounds, nor do we have instructors in the art available, but apparently the children have already taken care of it. The Bloody Baron has contacted a few friends of his--a smith, a potter and a glassmaker. They're ghosts, but are all apparently eager to pass on their expertise to another generation…though I'm told the glassmaker might take a while as he's in Italy at the moment. I didn't even know we had a smithy on the grounds, though being a castle, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It seems the children have been restoring the place in their free time. I swear, they're honestly the strangest bunch of children I've ever come across. Restoring the smithy and hiring ghosts, portrait lectures…what happened to pranks and broom closets?"

"Four hundred and fifty galleons for new brooms. I was beginning to think I'd never see the day. Most of the ones we have are antiques! In fact…I know a few collectors. I might be able to unload a few of the ones we have for a small profit."

"It would be nice if Hogwarts' general fund was as flush as the children's is." Snape grumbled.

"I should confiscate this windfall. I'm sure we could find better uses for it than restoring the smithy, of all things. It's a waste of resources. What use having a smithy? If we need metalwork, muggles have found far better ways to work metal than such outdated methods. It's a useless skill to revive." Dumbledore commented. He blinked owlishly around the table when he realized the other teachers were staring at him.

"Albus…I don't even have words for what a bad idea that is." Flitwick scoffed. "Something I would think you'd already realize yourself, given that the children received this money due to outrage over an adult stealing from them!"

"You wouldn't be able to in any case." McGonagall added.

"If it was donated to Hogwarts, it belongs to Hogwarts."

"It was donated to Harry Potter and the Melting Pot." McGonagall corrected him. "And it is intended for use by the clubs. As it stands, Hogwarts as a whole is benefitting as well, given the work being done on the smithy and the school brooms being replaced."

"And what do you mean learning to operate a smithy is useless? I say it's about bloody time. Yes, one can buy metal work from muggles, but that really doesn't benefit magical Britain in any way--it just bleeds magical wealth into the muggle world and creates jobs for muggles, not that most folks would have much choice, given that smithing is in fact an all but dead art among us, except among goblins, and their work doesn't come cheap, nor are they willing to make just any old thing." Professor Vector added.

"Exactly. These children and their activities will be a boon to magical Britain in coming years--reviving lost arts, manufacturing goods…that means jobs, something that have been in short supply lately." Slughorn nodded.

"And it means the wealth of magical Britain staying in magical Britain and benefiting witches and wizards rather than bleeding off into the muggle world." Sprout added.

"You should just stick to transfiguration, Albus, it's obvious you're no economist." Slughorn told him kindly as he patted his hand.

The others were distracted from Dumbledore's outraged spluttering by the entrance of Remus Lupin who smiled in greeting. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing much, really. I must say, you're looking particularly dapper today, Remus." Sprout noted.

"Oh, thank you. I feel rather overdressed, to be honest."

"You look like Rabastan Lestrange" Snape said slowly. 

"Not surprising, considering these are his clothes."

"What?! How on earth did you end up with his clothes?"

"Oh, well, Harry inherited the Lestrange holdings. He cleared out their house recently. Once he realized neither brother was his size, he went looking for somewhere to unload their clothing. Sirius' apparently told him I was the same size as Rabastan, so he sent them to me. He gave Rodolphus' things to a friend of his, and let the girls of Hogwarts loose on Bellatrix's wardrobe."

"Is that why all the girls seem to be so well-dressed lately?" Professor Vector laughed. "I had wondered about that." 

"I'm rather surprised at you, Remus" Dumbledore spoke up, sounding disapproving "running around in the clothing of a muggle-hating, torture-happy death eater"

"He's in Azkaban for life; it's not like he needs them." Remus defended himself.

"Oh, bloody hell…do any of you happen to know where the smithy is? I forgot to ask. Oh, wait, nevermind…the Bloody Baron is supposed to know where it is. I'll just find him." McGonagall suddenly spoke up.

Remus stared after her bemusedly. "New hobby?" he asked the others.

 

The next few weeks saw a number of deliveries to Hogwarts--raw materials for a number of clubs, as well as equipment--a third printer for the printing club, an antenna and microphones to do wireless broadcasts, a couple of video cameras and equipment for recording, editing and copying video feeds, a few more pottery wheels--they'd found three very old ones buried in the room of requirement--bowls, pans and utensils for the culinary arts club, as well as few different board games for the folks that weren't chess or gobstones enthusiasts. Madame Hooch also received a shipment of new brooms. She did in fact get a discount for the large purchase; she was able to get two new sets of quiddtich balls with the money she saved.  
The kids, and Madame Hooch were all in high spirits as spring drew ever closer.

 

The coming equinox was the last step needing to be completed before their transition to the new world come summer solstice. The seasonal magic was so heavy in the air, everyone swore they could actually feel the earth waking up beneath their feet. As the critical time approached, Harry began feeling so buzzed, he was twitchy and itchy and just about ready to leap out of his skin. 

Hours before the equinox was due to arrive, he woke in his bed and climbed out of Gryffindor tower, all but vibrating from the feedback he was getting. Far to the east, the magical world was awake and dancing, and the gossamer tendrils of magic that bound them to the rest were twanging in response. 

This last step would tie them all together and to Hogwarts. Harry knew he needed to be as close as possible to the heart of the magic for everything to come together as it should. In a euphoric daze, he wandered down the hall towards the room of requirement. His need was great enough that he didn't even need to pace, the castle simply had a door waiting for him. He wandered inside and then back out, deep beneath the castle in the caverns at the root of the mountain and made his way to the Chamber of Secrets, which lay directly over the wellspring of magic on which Hogwarts was built. 

Hour by hour, the magic built as each time zone was crossed and more and more of the magical world added their power to the great work. It was too warm…he felt like he had a fever in his blood, though it wasn't unpleasant. He pulled off his clothing, piece by piece, unable to bear the restriction, and then lay down on the cool stone, languid and tingling and aching as the magic built in intensity. He could feel it when the sun broke the horizon and sent its life-giving rays across the land, warming it and readying it to produce life. He could feel everyone in the castle as they stirred and began to dance…everyone in Britain…and he could sense that a lot of women had just gone into labor.

Lost in the magic as he was, he understood--a great work required sacrifices. 

Way back at the dawn of time, their ancestors had understood the power of such things, and had recognized the primal forces in their lives--blood, sex, death. 

In modern times, such things were scorned or feared by the 'enlightened' masses after decades of crackdowns by Ministries worldwide. What the ministries didn't understand was that those things were part of the very fabric of magic, the pathways laid down and reinforced by countless generations.   
Today, the laboring women gave their blood, sweat and tears as they brought forth new life into the world. 

He could feel it building in increments, like waves slowly encroaching on the shore, building…building, and straining to reach across the boundless ocean to reach the other side.   
Nearly dizzy with the power thrumming through his body, blood and soul, Harry rolled to his feet and began to dance, unconcerned with his nakedness, or the jutting erection he was sporting, he leapt and whirled through the chamber, straining alongside the magic to help it reach the crest. He threw back his head and gasped as he felt those seeking strands latch on to the easternmost magical enclaves across the ocean. He was trembling now as he danced, and a fine sheen of sweat began to break out across his body. Westward, ever westward with the path of the sun, all the scattered communities added their power and were gathered up. Further and further it traveled, and as it did, Harry burned and he trembled and he strained to gather up the last scattered remnants of their people. Westward again, another ocean…but the power was surging now and all was nearly complete…just a little more…just…

As the last citizens of the magical world were gathered up and tethered with the rest, the power crested and Harry came with a shout, spattering the surrounding area with a great, gushing river of semen, and then collapsed, wheezing and trembling to the ground, where he held himself up on shaking arms and thought about how very, very much he needed a nap. There were black spots dancing before his eyes, and he felt empty…though very, very sated. 

As his brain began to clear, he realized he wasn't kneeling on hard stone, but on a carpet of velvety grass and flowers. The whole inside of the chamber looked like a paradise garden, and Salazar Slytherin's statue looked like a pagan god, strewn with vines. Harry let himself fall to his side and then rolled to his back and lay spread-eagle on the grass. He was tired, like he'd never been before. He couldn't keep his eyes open a moment longer. He fell asleep there, naked, grinning like a fool, and very thankful it was the weekend. 

 

"Morning, all." 

"Harry! Where were you all day yesterday?"

"I was busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Move stuff, this equinox was the last piece needing to be complete. We're now all connected and ready to move come the solstice."

"What does any of that have to do with you? Last I checked, all that was being done in the Americas and Canada this time around."

"I'm the anchor. This last push took a lot out of me. I conked out afterwards and woke up just in time to crawl back to the tower for curfew, where I went immediately to bed and slept till morning."

"Why? What did you have to do?"

"Stuff. It's hard to explain."

"Well, try."

"No."

While Hermione sputtered indignantly, Harry watched for the morning mail. 

"You expecting something?" Neville asked.

"Word from Adeline about the baby, it was born last night…all the babies were, actually--all the ones conceived last summer solstice, anyway."

"I find that very unlikely, and how would you even know that?" Hermione scoffed.

"Felt it last night while I was dancing. They were all born as the last of the magical communities were gathered in."

"Oh, Harry really, that's just ridiculous." 

"You'll see." Harry replied indifferently as the mail owls started making their way into the hall. He spotted Errol, the Weasley's elderly owl, as well as the Malfoy's eagle owl among the crowd, he also spotted Hedwig whom he had sent home two days previously with a letter. She landed in front of him with a small thump and looked hopefully at his bacon. Harry untied the letter from her leg and handed some bacon over, leaving her to eat it in piece as he unrolled the missive she'd carried.

He read through and grinned and then held the letter up for Hermione's inspection. "Regulus Alphard Black, born last night. 19 inches long, seven pounds four ounces. Mother and son are doing fine."

"Lucky guess." Hermione sniffed, before getting distracted by the Weasleys carrying on further down the table.

"What's going on?"

"Mum had the babies! Twin girls, Elaine and Nimue…can you imagine? Twin Ginnys, it's a bloody nightmare! Ow!" Ron complained as Ginny smacked him in the back of the head.   
"I wish they'd been born sooner. It would have been nice to have other girls around when I was growing up. Mum must be beside herself." 

"When were they born?"

"Last night."

Harry smirked at Hermione who sniffed and muttered 'coincidence' under her breath before turning back to her book pointedly. Harry's phone rang, so he dug it out and answered, while still smirking at Hermione, who glanced up suspicious at his good mood. 

"Oh, hey Draco, what's up? Oh, you've got a new little sister, you say? Born last night? Yeah? What's her name? Drusilla, huh. Drusilla Narcissa Malfoy. I like it. Oh? Greg, Vince, Millie and Daphne's mums had their babies too? Do tell. Last night as well? What are the odds?"

Hermione huffed irritably.

Another owl settled down in front of Harry and held out its leg.

"Hey, Barty and Dora had a little girl". He dug out some parchment and one of the handy ever-inking quills he'd gotten from the Lestranges' and started writing 'congratulations on your new son/daughter letters to everyone. "I'm glad I thought to get baby gifts last Hogsmeade weekend, or I'd be in trouble."

"Man, has anyone seen outside? Spring is here with a vengeance." Seamus asked.

"Why, what's going on?" Lavender wondered.

"You know how it is, we usually still have snow on the ground in spots until late June most years? I don't think that's gonna be the case this year. It looks like half the thaw has already happened. There's puddles of slush and thick, gloopy mud everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I saw buds on the trees. It's mad!"

"Cool." Harry commented calmly. Inside he was patting himself on the back. 

It was obvious, he was the _god_ of naked dancing.


	10. Renaissance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids decide to open the Melting Pot to the remainder of the school and have a party.

The teachers glanced at the door of the teacher's lounge when a firm knock sounded.

"Come in?"

When the door opened a first year was revealed, holding a stack of lurid purple flyers in her hands. 

"Yes Miss Abercrombie? Can we help you with something?" Flitwick asked.

"I'm just here to hand these out." she told them as she began making the rounds. When she'd given the last of the teachers one, she did a quick head count and pulled a few more from her stack to leave on the table.

"Could you see everyone else gets one as well? I need to get going."

"What is this all about?" Snape demanded.

"The flyer explains everything. We hope we'll see you all there. We have lots planned. There's directions to our new location on the back. Good night!"

"The Melting Pot's first annual Easter break open house, come one come all." Sprout read out loud "Food, music, games, prizes, and of course, good company. You've heard the buzz, come see what we're all about."

"Statue of a faun?" Mcgonagall said with confusion. "There's no fauns in the dungeons."

"They don't seem to be in the dungeons anymore. I had noticed they weren't heading down that way. I thought perhaps they'd lost interest in their little clubhouse…it seems they just moved." Sprout realized.

"Arrogant little sots. I do love how they just feel they can wander around commandeering parts of the castle." Snape grumbled as he tossed his flyer aside.

"They do not seem to 'ave taken anything zhat will be missed, considering zhat none of you knew zhey were elsewhere." Madame Maxime commented.

"That's hardly the point. They're students. They should have gone through proper channels and asked permission, not just set up shop like they own the place!" McGonagall sniffed.

"That's what they did the first time, and they were never reprimanded. They had no real reason to think it wouldn't be alright." Sprout pointed out.

"Listen to us on channel 33.5--Hogwarts Radio, Live from the Melting Pot, every night from 6-9." Flitwick read the small print at the bottom of the flyer. "Goodness, those children don't waste time do they?"

"They have a bloody wireless station?" Snape spluttered. "Lord only knows what sort of nonsense the little dunderheads are broadcasting."

"It's just going on six now. Does anyone have a wireless?" Vector wondered.

"I do, in my quarters." McGonagall spoke up. She called a house elf and had it bring the wireless down and set in on the table amidst the teachers.

"33.5 you said?"  
"That's what it says here."

McGonagall played with the knob until she got a clear signal and sat back to listen.

There was silence and then the sound of chimes, followed by Hermione Granger's voice.

"Welcome to the first broadcast of Hogwarts radio, live from the Melting Pot, I'm Hermione Granger, your host this evening, as well as the founder and president of the Hogwarts Wireless Association. We are brought to you tonight courtesy of the generous and much appreciated donations sent to us by the readers of Witch Weekly. Thank you, everyone, for your support. You will be happy to know that your donations not only allowed us to begin this wireless station, but also allowed us to purchase goods and equipment for all of the Melting Pot's associated clubs and activities, leaving us enough to replace the school brooms and quidditch balls as well. We could not have done any of it without all of you. It was a much appreciated gesture of goodwill from the community after Rita Skeeter's heinous theft against us. You will all be happy to know that the aurors who answered our call for help were eventually able to recover our film as well, and the Yule ball pictures turned out very nice indeed. I myself went as Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang Tri-Wizard champion and international quidditch star's, date. He looked rather dashing in his red dress robes, if I do say so myself. Tonight, during our first broadcast, we have a lot lined up for you. We have several musical acts, a bit of comedy as well as some hard-hitting social commentary…"

As Hermione droned on and on, the teacher's eyes began to glaze, as happened to most people when she really got going. They were jolted out of their stupor as she stopped talking and then the faint sounds of a struggle were carried over the wireless.

"Stop that! What are you doing?"

"Bloody hell, Granger, would you shut up already?"

"How dare you! I'm in the middle of announcing the"

"reciting a bloody epic, more like. We've only got an hour, with the way you've been going on there isn't going to be time for any of the scheduled programming."

"Give that back!"

"Hello, everyone, Draco here. Tonight we'll be starting off with the musical stylings of 'Mister Mellow'. Why don't all of you out there give him a warm welcome, he's a little shy. Come on out here, Steve…I mean, Mister Mellow."

They heard some shuffling.

"Say hi St…Mister Mellow, and tell the folks in the audience what you'll be performing for us tonight."

"Um…hi"

"Mister Cornfoot!" Sprout exclaimed.

"I'm, uh, gonna sing a song. It's one I really like, even though it's by muggles."

"Sounds smashing."

There was silence, and then Stephen's voice sounded once more.

"Could you all, um, maybe leave."

"What?"

"I can't sing if you're all looking at me."

"Ah, sure. Sure, we can do that."

There was the sound of footsteps and then the sound of a door shutting, then silence, then the sound of a guitar, followed by the voice of an angel.

_"Yesterday…all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they're here to stay…"_

"My word! I had no idea there was such an undiscovered jewel among the students! Stephen Cornfoot you say? I shall have to remember to invite him to my Slug Club in a few years." Slughorn chortled delightedly.

"Unless he gets over his shyness he's unlikely to make a living as a singer." Sprout sighed.

"He can record and do spots on the wireless. There's no real reason he'd need to do concerts unless he wants to."

"Well…there is that." Sprout agreed.

As the song ended the sound of whistling and enthusiastic clapping came over the speakers, followed by a shriek and a thud.

"Oh, damn…he fainted. Geez, he's so shy it's ridiculous. Medic! Medic!"

"Pomfrey's there?" Professor Babbling gasped.

"I'm where?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she came through the door.

"Coming through, coming through, give the guy some air."

"Say hello to the listening public, Blaise."

"Good evening, everyone. Blaise Zabini, resident mediwizard in training and head of the Melting Pot medical corps at your service." Blaise purred into the microphone. "I'd stick around to chat, but I currently have a patient to see to."

Pomfrey chuckled fondly and shook her head as she took a seat. 

"They have a medical corps? Since when?" Snape spluttered.

"Oh, it's just the students who have shown an aptitude for medical magic. Mr. Zabini was usually the first to get all the first aid charms I taught them at the healing seminars. He and about six others are certified to do first response assessment and get someone stabilized in case of an accident. They made him head of their medical corps so he'd get some practice for running the hospital someday."

"Healing seminars?" Madame Maxime asked in interest.

"Mr. Zabini is going to be running St. Mungo's?" Slughorn asked.

"Every year during Easter break I run a little seminar to teach basic first aid to any students who are interested. Those who show real aptitude for the discipline I've been giving the odd lesson to outside of that. The seven I mentioned are well on their way to being certified mediwizards by the time they graduate Hogwarts…well, obviously they'd probably still need a little training, but they'll be most of the way there. As for St. Mungo's, it was always his intention to run the hospital one day--it does belong to his family, after all. He was a bit worried that he'd have to find a new career path when Mr. Thomas was found to be his cousin, but Mr. Thomas is already hard at work to become a professional artist and had no real interest in running it, so he said Blaise was welcome to it. It worked out well for all concerned."

"What are they talking about? I missed it." Sprout asked.

"Susan Bones is explaining their adventures with squid ink." Vector replied.

"What?" Professor Sinistra asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Listen."

"…so we devised a game of sorts to help us train for the extraction. We filled balloons with water and put them in a filled bathtub and had to stand across the room and extract the water from the balloon and into our collecting cup. It's more difficult than it sounds and it took a lot of doing to get it right, but we were determined--we didn't want to hurt the poor squid after all, and at the time, we had planned on using the ink we collected for the printing club, as we had no budget at the time. Sadly, after all our work, we discovered that squid ink doesn't work well in a printing press. We were rather at a loss as to what to do with all the ink we'd so carefully collected, so we started experimenting to see what else could be done. The following recipe is the end result of some of our experimenting. It was a big hit at the annual Christmas party, so I'm sure all those of you listening at home will like it too…to start with you'll need…"

"Little dunderheads! If they needed ink so badly, why the hell didn't they just ask someone? I have some in my stores! Hagrid used to get it for me once in a while, and I still have most of it as I don't have much call for it!" Snape huffed.

"They probably didn't realize, if it was never used in any of their classes, and isn't in their potions kit. But still, they really should have asked for help." McGongall agreed.

"Why? Zhey seem to 'ave gone about collecting eet with a responsible attitude, and did not just wave zher wands at ze squid and make a mess. I zhink eet shows an admirable sense of independence and problem solving skills. We want our students to learn while zhey are in school, not just repeat back what zhey are told, after all." Maxime objected.

"Thank you Susan, for that lovely recipe. You folks at home should certainly try it, it is yummy. Now for the social commentary part of our show, I Hermione Granger, would like to bring to everyone's attention a terrible injustice plaguing our world. It has recently come to my attention that poor little dwarves are being enslaved and"

"Granger! Would you stop harping about the bloody dwarves? Didn't we go over this already?"

"Just because you're content to ignore the enslavement of sentient…"

"THEY'RE NOT ENSLAVED! THEY ESCAPED AND ARE LIVING IN MY GARDEN, REMEMBER?"

"If it happened to one group…"

"My father asked around. To the best of our knowledge, there are no dwarves being enslaved in Britain, and the group of which we were speaking was living in FRANCE!"

"Well, what about the garden gnomes then?"

"Maybe they like being butlers!"

"THAT'S COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS! THEY WERE CONQUERED AND ENSLAVED!"

"How do you know they don't like it? Have you ever asked them? No, you have not!"

"THANK YOU, Draco and Hermione for the biting social commentary." They heard Seamus Finnegan butt in "I see our hour is almost up, so to round things off, here are Harry Potter and Fawkes the phoenix doing a duet, flute and phoenix song. The song they've chosen for tonight is 'Somewhere out there".

There was the sound of shuffling and voices arguing in the background, then the sound of a flute and a phoenix singing.

"Fawkes knew about this? How did he know and none of us did?"

"What was all that about dwarves?" Sinistra wondered.

 

The Easter holidays were usually rather boring, from the students perspective. They had a couple of days off, though they didn't go home as the break was never long enough to make it worthwhile, and they usually had a lot of homework to do over the break, so it wasn't usually all that relaxing either. Still, it was a few days with no classes, which was nice.  
This year was going to be a bit different, it seemed. As the students were heading down to breakfast on the first day of break they noticed there were glowing arrows on the floor leading back deeper into the castle, and a sign reading Melting Pot Open House 8am-5pm. Their curiosity was peaked, but as it was only going on 7 am they shelved their curiosity for the moment and headed into the great hall. 

The upper years and the foreign students noted that the hall emptied out of almost all the underclassmen by 7:45. Feeling even more curious, those left hurried to finish eating and headed out to follow the glowing arrows. 

The pathway they were led on traveled down a central corridor on the ground floor, towards the center of the castle--a part that most of the students hadn't really had need to travel to before as there were no classrooms down that way. They were directed to duck behind the statue of a faun, which revealed a short hidden passage that opened on to another hallway behind it.

"I didn't even know there was another hallway back here. Where are we going anyway?"

"Dunno. Bit of an adventure, innit?"

As they traveled down the newly revealed hallway, they could hear the sound of voices up ahead, and see a pair of doors standing open, with an archway of balloons in all the house colors surrounding them. As they approached, they could see the glass on the doors was stained glass with the image of a melting pot on one side and the words (backwards due to the door being open) "The Melting Pot, est. 1992"

"92? Why didn't I know about this? Did you know about this?"

"Nope."  
"Me either."

Inside looked like a fancy parlor--there were plush carpets on the floor, divans and loveseats and couches and chairs in small groupings, with little tables scattered among them. Along one wall were the crests of the four houses, bordering the Hogwarts crest and below it another shield with a melting pot on it. Below that was a large fireplace, and on the walls and mantelpiece were dozens of framed photographs. A fierce dragon head hung over the set of double doors on the far side of the room. In each corner there was a stuffed troll, a stuffed gryphon, a stuffed ogre and a stuffed chimera. On the wall opposite the large fireplace, above which hung the school crests, were several tapestries detailing battles and a party at Hogwarts on the grounds. Below them a long table sat in the middle of the wall, covered in pamphlets and flyers in different colors. The walls to either side of the doors held bulletin boards, one with sign up sheets and schedules, the other with a list of 'secrecy friendly charms' and 'useful everyday charms'. Beyond the double doors at the far end of the room they could see a courtyard that seemed to be full of people going to and fro. Sprawled across the furniture in the room itself were a number of underclassmen--talking, playing games, reading. As the upperclassmen were taking in the sights, one of the kids approached them wearing a badge that stated they were a 'friendly tour guide'.

"Greetings, welcome to the Melting Pot's first annual open house. I'll be your guide, Ron Weasley. Would you like a tour?"

"Uh…" 

"Come on then, move along. There's other folks trying to get in behind you."

A group of four wandered in from the courtyard and started singing.

"This here is the Melting Pot, it's sort of communications central for the whole place. Those folks are the Slytherin barbershop quartet. They sing…well, you probably already realized that part. They just made their debut on HMPX…that's our wireless station, in case you were wondering…"

The dazed students followed Ron towards the courtyard doors as another underclassman greeted the next bunch behind them.

"Hello, and welcome to the Melting Pot's first annual open house, I'll be your guide, Tania. If you'll just follow me, I can answer any questions and tell you a bit about who were are and what we do here…"

 

"Well, their little event seems to be a success all around." McGonagall noted approvingly, before eating a bit more of her pasta. She smacked her lips a bit and washed it down with a bit of punch. "Miss Bones and Miss Granger were right, the squid ink is in fact surprisingly tasty, odd though that seems."

"I rather like the pizza, myself. Marvelous invention." Flitwick spoke up as he wiped his greasy fingers on a napkin.

"It's a muggle dish, you can find restaurants selling them in London if you're so inclined." Snape replied as he downed his butterbeer.

"Oh my…look at them. I think the children broke them." Professor Vector whispered.

The teachers glanced unobtrusively to where she pointed and had to stifle snorts of amusement. A group of upperclassmen were wandering past, all of them looking shellshocked, and perhaps a bit angry as well.

"Serves them right, honestly. That lot has always done the bare minimum they needed to pass the year and not a bit more, and they're taking hardly any NEWTs--they didn't want classes interfering with their free time, which they use to laze about and chase girls, while being as obnoxious as humanly possible. This place might be just the reality check they need. All three of them seem to feel they can just coast by through life without knowing how to do anything--seeing the sort of competition they'll be up against in a few years might get them motivated to improve themselves before it's too late." Snape sneered.

"They're just a couple of months from graduating, Severus. There's probably not a whole lot that can be done at this late stage." McGonagall sighed regretfully.

They were some of hers, mores the pity--and she certainly had spoken to all of them more than once throughout their years in her house about improving their academic performance. As far as she'd been able to tell it had all gone in one ear and out the other.

"I don't know…with all the helpful how-to guides the children have put together, anyone could benefit quite a lot if they're of a mind to." Flitwick objected.

"That's just it though, they still have to make the effort, and those three at least I doubt will do so. It's a waste, really."

"Happily, that doesn't seem to be true for the rest of the students…some of them at least." Sprout pointed to the Weasley twins chatting amiably with the potioneers club, Lee Jordan chatting with the wireless club. The foreign students seemed to be making themselves rather at home as well--several of the Beauxbatons girls were chatting with the fashion club, and some of the Durmstrang boys were deep in discussion with the forensics club. 

"It really is rather astonishing, isn't it? Could any of you have imagined such a sight? Children of all four houses interacting so comfortably and so easily, working together to accomplish common goals? When I think of how bad house rivalries had gotten…it's utterly astonishing." McGonagall noted.

"It's easy to see the difference in the groups." Sprout spoke up quietly. 

She gestured with her head to where most of the older students were congregated. They were in very firmly separated groups, all of whom reflexively sneered at one another when their gazes crossed. The teachers saw more than one of the older students glaring at their younger housemates, most of whom were in mixed groups--the worst culprits being Slytherin and Gryffindor, though even the badgers and eagles seemed unhappy with the mixing. 

"That bears watching." Flitwick sighed. "One would hope they would learn from the younger children's example and reach out across house lines…instead, they look more likely to try snatching their housemates back from such mixing." His face darkened further and he sent a hard look towards the older students "I overheard several nasty remarks from some of them while looking at the picture wall as well. A lot of them seem rather disgusted that the children posed for photographs with house elves and goblins, and were talking about 'setting the sprogs straight'."

"What's the problem with that? I thought it was rather sweet, them wanting to commemorate the elves and the goblins who helped them with different things." Sprout objected.

"Sadly, Amos Diggory isn't the only wizard out there who thinks elves and goblins should be killed with impunity for 'thinking they're people'." 

"I do not understand zhis country at all" Maxime huffed disgustedly "So much 'atred for so many. While France is not without eets own fanatics, they're few and far between, and are rightly looked upon as twisted individuals who 'ave no place in civilized society."

The other teachers cast dirty looks of varying degrees on the large woman.

"We have our problems, yes, but you'll find that the majority of folks are just folks, and no more criminal or murderous that the norm." McGonagall sniffed. "And the majority were rather appalled by what Amos Diggory and his associates were getting up to in their off hours. Poor Arthur Weasley was quite beside himself--he's known the man for years, they live in the same part of Devon, and have worked together at the Ministry. He had no idea he was getting up to such things. You think you know a person…"

"This is a rather depressing subject for the surroundings. I'm going to go mingle and see if I can get our reluctant upperclassmen to do so as well." Vector announced.

"We should probably go help her." Sprout decided. She bustled off after the arithimancy teacher, followed shortly thereafter by McGonagall and Flitwick, who finished off their drinks and rose to follow.

"Are you not going to go 'elp zhe others?" Maxime asked Snape curiously.

"No. There's enough busybodies on the case already. My students will behave themselves--they know they'll be consequences if they don't."

"You seem melancholy."

Snape didn't answer, he simply stared out over the crowd of students, his eyes lingering on Ginny Weasley, with her flaming red hair and Gryffindor uniform, who was talking to Theodore Nott--a gawky Slytherin boy, tall, thin and lanky. How strange to see them there, speaking so openly, no one throwing hexes or threatening them with bodily harm or trying to de-pants the Slytherin boy… While it was true the Weasley chit was a pureblood, not a muggleborn, she was still a blood-traitor and a Gryffindor…and yet, none of the snakes were glaring at her or giving her a hard time, and none of the lions was stalking him with mayhem in mind. 

How different would his life have been, had that been the case in his youth? He and Lily had remained friends until fifth year, though they'd kept their friendship, if not secret exactly, still low key. They sat together in the back of the library when they had the chance, or hung out in out of the way courtyards, or down by the lake when there weren't others about. It had been hard maintaining their friendship even as long as they had, being in separate houses. There had been very little time on any given day when they actually saw each other, let alone had time to interact. Separate houses, separate tables, separate classes…even those their houses shared were spent sitting on opposite sides of the room, and they were always a torment because of the Marauders. What would he have given for a place like this, where they could have met together and spent time together on a regular basis? Of course, the Marauders wouldn't have let them be--a place like this would still have been a misery, back then… though if their house rivalries hadn't been so sharp to begin with, who knows the difference it all would have made?

His eyes fell on Harry Potter, chatting with Draco Malfoy and several of his Slytherin year mates, and he could only think that James Potter must be spinning madly in his grave, seeing his only son on such good terms with the 'slimy snakes'. Had the man lived, he had no doubt this little utopia would never have come into being--Harry Potter would have come to Hogwarts arrogant and swaggering and hating Slytherins with every fiber of his black little heart--having Lily as a mother would have made no difference. He had called her a name in a moment of angry humiliation, and she had turned up her nose, thrown away years of friendship and refused point blank to forgive him. The last time he had seen her was a few months before she'd married Potter. She had looked right through him as though he were invisible and walked past without ever acknowledging him in any way. He had known, even when he'd gone to Dumbledore and begged for her life that it would have made no difference. He would never have gotten a thank you or a softening of stance had she survived. He'd heard her son referred to as being unforgiving--Lily truly was. He had known and begged for her life anyway; he didn't want to be responsible for the death of his longtime best friend. It hadn't mattered in the end. 

"Rather long faces for such a festive atmosphere." Remus commented as he approached where the two of them were sitting and settled himself in one of the empty chairs. 

"Professor Lupin, I 'ave not seen you much this evening." Maxime replied.

"I was taking the tour and stopped to chat with some of the children when I spotted their zoo."

"Zoo?" 

"They have some cornish pixies that were apparently living in the lower dungeons somewhere--most agree it's probably my predecessor's fault, as he released a bunch in class one day and didn't know how to contain them. Several apparently escaped and have been living in the castle all this time. They also have a colony of doxys they found living in some tattered curtains, several bundimums that were living on some wooden furniture. When I saw there was at least a few children with an interest in magizoology, I made a point of questioning them on any future purchase plans, given their monetary windfall. From what Harry told me, even with the several large purchases they've recently made, there's actually still quite a bit of money left. I've been reassured that though it was discussed, they decided not to start buying a menagerie of magical creatures. Happily, they decided that as there was already a care of magical creatures class, there was no real need to do so."

"Thank goodness for small favors."

"So, Severus, why are you looking so gloomy this evening?"

"I've told you repeatedly, Lupin, don't be so familiar."

"Very well, Snape, why are you looking so gloomy tonight?" Remus repeated while sporting a small, mocking smile and a roll of his eyes.

"None of your business."

"Well, that's friendly."

"We are not, and have never been friends, Lupin."

"No, we never were. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? How different would the world have looked had we had a place like this?"

"It wouldn't have looked any different, not back then." 

Lupin sighed and nodded. "I suppose you're right. With the death eaters recruiting…"  
Snape snorted bitterly. "With the Marauders in residence, is what I was thinking."

 

"Welcome, everyone out in wireless land to another night live at the Melting Pot, I, Seamus Finnegan, will be your host tonight. As those of you who have been regularly checking in are aware, we're currently hosting our first annual Melting Pot open house. Let's say hello to some of our guests….hello, ladies."

"Hello." one of the Beauxbatons girls replied, while the rest giggled.

"As you at home may or may not know, our sister schools actually sent delegations of twelve students to Hogwarts to try out for the Triwizard Tournament. You all know all about the chosen champions, but how about the rest? It seems a terrible oversight, doesn't it? So, let's get to know the rest…Let's start with you, lovely. Why don't you tell the nice people at home a little about yourself?"

The girl he'd singled out blushed and giggled before stepping forward to speak into the microphone. Across the room, some of the watching students turned to look at Harry as he suddenly sat up straight with a look on his face they'd all learned to recognize--his 'I just had an idea that will make us money' look. 

"What is it, Harry?"

"Calendars."

"Huh?"

"There are twelve Beaubatons students, twelve Durmstrang students, one for each month. Parvati…you were saying the fashion club was considering maybe holding shows or something, right? How about I do you one better? We can have the students wearing some of your designs and then sell the calendars. Do you have enough designs, or could you come up with enough to have three different outfits for each season?"

"We have plenty of designs…we might have to put together a couple more men's designs, but we have more than enough ladies' designs. The challenge would be to make them to fit the students that would be wearing them."

"Could you do it before we all leave in June?"

"I'm sure we could."

"Art club…could you design decorative backdrops that are seasonally appropriate?"

"Yeah, that should be no problem."

"We already know the photography and printing clubs will be able to handle their part…now all we'd have to do is convince the students to agree."

"Hermione Granger is dating Viktor Krum, right? We can just have her convince Viktor and let him convince the rest." Theo pointed out.

"The Beauxbatons girls should agree without too much trouble--a lot of them were pretty disappointed to not be chosen as champions. There's a problem though, half the Beauxbatons group are boys." Lavender reminded them.

"Okay…how about this…for the boy calendar, we make it an eighteen month calendar and put the boys of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons in it. For the girls' calendar, we have the girls of Beauxbatons and pick some of the seventh-year girls of Hogwarts to fill out the rest? Girls and quidditch enthusiasts should buy the boy calendar, boys and folks who know the Hogwarts girls should buy the girls calendar. We could probably sell some to bookstores, stationary stores and the like to sell for Christmas, on top of whatever copies we sell internally."

"Yeah…I can see it now." 

"Alright then, we'll have a meeting in a few days. Art club, fashion club, make sure you have examples to bring with you."

"Will do, boss."

"That's what I like to hear." 

"Hey, what's going on over there?"

The kids turned to look and found Professors Snape and Lupin leaning forward in their chairs and snarling at one another. They seemed to be arguing, though none of them could hear what they were saying--likely because of a privacy ward one of them had put up.

"What do you think they're fighting about?" Millicent wondered.

"Probably their schooldays. My father told me Lupin was part of a gang that used to go out of their way to bully Professor Snape back in the day." Draco offered.

"Ouch. That had to hurt." Pansy winced.

Madame Maxime had evidently gotten tired of their argument and had knocked their heads together, before grabbing each of them by the scruff of the neck and giving them a shake, as though they were a couple of naughty puppies.

"Note to self, don't get on Madame Maxime's bad side." Crabbe laughed.

Over by Seamus, the Beauxbatons students were singing something in French, and the Durmstrang students were gathering nearby for their turn on the wireless. The crowd quieted down to listen and broke into cheers and whistles when they were done. 

"Let's hear it for Beauxbatons!" Seamus crowed once the crowd had quieted down. "Thank you all of you. Now, let's see what our friends from Durmstrang have to say for themselves…you lot don't sing as well, do you?"

"Yes, we can sing. We will be singing for you now, traditional Durmstrang working song, yes?" The boys lined up and gathered around the microphone and suddenly the whole group burst out into song. Unlike the song sung by the Beauxbatons group, which was a light-hearted love song sung in the upper ranges, the Durmstrang boys bellowed out a deep-throated ditty with a martial air to it. One could picture them heading off to war, singing such a song to keep them in lockstep as they marched. They got cheers and whistles as well when they were done, and looked well pleased with themselves.

"Well, lots of talent to be had here. Say, Hogwarts Choir, do you lot want to sing us a ditty as well, just for completeness sake? Come on, choir folks!"

Around the room the choir members groaned good-naturedly and climbed to their feet to gather around the microphone as well. After a brief conference, they decided on a sad folk song, 'Talaith's Lament', which told the story of a maiden who had just been told her lover had fallen in battle, leaving her bereft and vowing to cut off her hair, smear herself with the ashes from his funeral pyre, and take up his arms to die while avenging his death, so she can rejoin him in the afterlife. 

Once those gathered had cheered for the choir, Seamus did short interviews with all the Durmstrang students and then they announced one of the many ice-breaking events they had planned for the evening. 

"Alright, now, for the next part of the evening's entertainment we're going to have a game of Interrogation. For those of you not in the know, Interrogation is a game we here at the Melting Pot invented to help us study. Tonight, we'd like to get twelve volunteers from the Hogwarts sixth and seventh years to face off against our visitors from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. The group that wins will be getting lovely badges made by our art club that declare you to one and all as Master Interrogators--which sounds more ominous than it really is. Do we have any volunteers?"

While some sixth and seventh years stood forward to volunteer, Seamus went and had them introduce themselves and tell the at home audience a bit about themselves. While this was going on the open house committee got the game set up. They could see the older students were somewhat impressed--they had three podiums with buzzers that would light up to show which of the three buzzing in had done so first, and a large board that showed the audience the question and category, as well as what level the question was considered. While the participants were being briefed on the rules and how to play, the rest of the students and teachers found themselves someplace to sit or stand nearby so they could watch. 

The game started off slow, but as the crowd started rooting for their favored players, and the players themselves started letting their competitive spirits out, it got rather rowdy, as the games usually did when they just had the Melting Pot crowd involved. There was a reason it had become so popular among them. 

The group from Beauxbatons won the game, much to their delight and the consternation of the rest, and were duly presented with their 'Interrogation Master' badges, which they seemed to find quite amusing, and quite cheerfully pinned to their uniforms. Madame Maxime was obviously proud of her students and effuse in her congratulations--the same couldn't be said for Headmasters Dumbledore and Karkaroff, whose smiles both looked rather constipated, and who were both obviously incensed at having their schools shown up in such a way. Happily, the students were more forgiving, and were (mostly) good sports about losing.

 

Professor Lupin and Snape eyed the bright eyed first year that approached them with caution as he smiled happily and rocked back on his heels after handing each of them a printed page.

"We have a commercial spot coming up and we'd all be really grateful if you could help us out. We were just going to do it ourselves, but the advertising committee agreed it would be more effective if it was a couple of adults who read the script. Just look that over and decided whose going to be who, and be ready to talk when someone shoves a mike in your face, okay? Thanks!"

The child skipped off and Snape and Lupin looked down at the pages in their hands. "What on earth…?"

Suddenly Seamus Finnegan was there with his microphone and held up a small music cube which began playing a jaunty tune. He shoved the microphone into Snape's face and gestured him to speak. Snape glowered at him and glanced down at his script.

"I've just finished updating my bathroom, and I must say it looks fabulous."

Remus bit his lip to keep from laughing at hearing the dour man say such a thing, but gamely read his own script.

"My bathroom could use updating as well, but I simply haven't the time to research the spells I'd need; I'm always too busy."

"No one really has time to troll through hundreds of books looking for just the right spell, but thankfully I had help."

"Really? Do tell."

"Thanks to the handy-dandy quick and easy guide to home repair and design I was able to get just what I needed without having to do hours of research. It was the perfect solution for a busy man like myself."

"The handy-dandy quick and easy guide to home repair and design? I've never heard of it."

"It's new. I simply ordered it from the Melting Pot. They have a whole catalogue of quick and easy guides to make life a little easier without all the guesswork."

"Sounds useful. Where can I get one?"

"Simply write to Melting Pot Publishing and ask for a catalogue. There are order forms in the back that will allow you to buy their hundreds of useful and informative pamphlets for the low easy price of just three sickles. It was more than worth the price for its time saving and ease of use."

"Well, thank you, friend, I may do just that. Melting Pot Publishing, and ask for a catalogue?"

"Yes, it is just that easy."

Seamus nodded, cut off the music and wandered off, already talking. 

"Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…" 

Lupin and Snape both sighed as their colleagues, who had watched the whole thing from nearby all started laughing and clapping.

"Oh, bravo."  
"I always said you two would make a good team if you just worked together." Dumbledore told them, eyes twinkling.

Snape curled his lip and stalked off in a huff. 

 

As the last of the guests left, the kids left behind broke up into groups to tidy up, while the executive board had a meeting to discuss the success of the event.

"We've gotten interest from several upperclassmen that would like to get in on the wireless, and some have expressed interest in being actors in some of our planned video forays." Goyle noted.

"One of the Beauxbatons students is a dab hand a pottery and offered to come back and give us some tips. A couple of others offered to show the culinary arts club several French, Spanish and Greek dishes we haven't had before." Millicent offered.

"We sold several pamphlets and quite a few copies of "The Melting Pot: A History", and several upperclassmen have expressed interest in submitting work for our next short story and poetry collections." Justin this time.

"Most of them seemed pretty impressed with the puppet workshop and some of the Durmstrang boys offered to write up some fairy tales and the like from eastern Europe since we don't have anything like that in our collection so far." Hannah said cheerfully.

"We got a lot of compliments on the artists' studio, and some of the older and foreign students said they'd like to come hang out, see what we can do and offer some pointers here and there." Michael offered.

"Some of the Durmstrang guys offered to give us a hand at the smithy. Apparently they have one at Durmstrang and two of the guys in the group have actually worked it. They said they'd give us some pointers and help out a bit while they were here." Crabbe said.

"We have a few interested in joining the potioneers club. Forensics too, once we explained what it was, there were a couple who thought it sounded pretty neat. The thing is, a couple of them plan on being aurors, and I have a feeling they're going to try to sell the idea of a forensics department and get credit for it if they do." Harry sighed.

"Won't matter. I told my aunt about it, and she told head auror Scrimgeour. They both already know it was us, so if they do try such a thing they're just going to end up looking like lying idiots." 

"Good to know. Nice that we have so much interest…do any of you think the older students are going to be a problem?"

"I think some of them will, yeah. There was a couple of jerks trying to throw their weight around all night, though they didn't do too much because all the teachers were here too. If the teachers aren't here, then yeah, I think they might be a problem." Hannah nodded.

"Security team?"

"No worries. We got the ill-intent ward up and running. Anyone who comes here wanting to learn, teach and be friendly can get in. Anyone who comes here looking to be a jerk will regret it." Mike assured them.

"Good. What was our take for the evening?"

"Not too bad, really. We sold a lot of the candid photos we've taken over the school year, and got about twenty five galleons for it." Goyle answered.  
"We sold several publications, about twenty galleons worth." Crabbe added.

"Not bad for a night's work. Good job, everyone." 

 

"We should have had the open house on Saturday so we'd have a Sunday to recover."

"Recover from what? We had a party and we had fun, now it's Monday and it's time to go back to class." Dean shrugged.

"Ronald Weasley! You didn't finish your homework, did you? That's why you're complaining!"

"Oh, lay off, I did so. I was just saying. Being busy yesterday just made the weekend seem too short is all."

"Apparently you're not the only one not eager to get back to classes." Neville commented idly. "Has anyone noticed a lot of the sixth and seventh years are missing?"

"They are?"

"Yeah, I noticed--Gryffindors and Ravenclaws." Harry nodded.

"I wonder what happened that caused all of them to miss breakfast?" Hermione wondered.

"I think I can guess." Neville murmured as his pointed unobtrusively towards the doors, where Michael, Greg, Vince and Ernie--the Melting Pot security team, were coming through and heading towards the staff table like they meant business.

"Does this mean what I think it does?" Lavender gasped. 

"Looks like."

"No way…most of the people missing are Gryffindors!" Ron denied.

"So? It was a trio of Gryffindors that were swaggering around being jerks last night. Being sorted into Gryffindor isn't an automatic fast track to virtue. Remember Peter Pettigrew?"

"He wasn't a real Gryffindor."

"That's where he was sorted, he spent seven years wearing red and gold and sleeping in Gryffindor tower." Neville reminded him.

"B-but…Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, and not a Slytherin in the bunch? It's just wrong!"

"Not quite. There were three Slytherins that came in late, looking annoyed and distinctly ruffled, that were quietly scolded by their house when they sat down. I'm guessing they headed out to do the same thing the others did, but they were a smaller group, and the others allied against them and drove them off. It seems the Hufflepuffs are the only house with trustworthy upperclassmen." Harry disagreed.

As they watched, Michael and the others chatted with the teachers, who looked disturbed when they were finished. McGonagall shooed them off to their tables to have breakfast. The teachers finished off their own breakfasts, then Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick excused themselves and hurried from the hall.  
They from Gryffindor leaned over to question Ernie, along with his housemates, when he took his seat.

"So? What's going on?"

"Fifteen upperclassmen ran afoul of our security. The teachers started to get all huffy about us 'criminally endangering fellow students', but Michael set them straight. They triggered the ill-intent ward and made an attempt to dismantle the security. Only if both those things happened would the secondary defenses kick in. It's so pathetic…the secondary defenses opened the cages on the pixies, the doxies and the boggarts we collected, and they weren't able to defend themselves! They're all sixth and seventh years! The wards on the doors bounced their own spells back at them, and yet, given how hexed they all were, they just continued firing! It's utterly ridiculous. Michael was telling the absolute truth when he told the headmaster that the only criminal endangerment going on is to the rest of us should stupidity prove to be catching. Michael can be rather witty when the mood takes him. The headmaster didn't seem to think so, but the rest of us thought it was rather funny. Do you know what the worst part is though? There were prefects, not to mention the head boy and girl among the would be thieves. Can you imagine? It's a terrible blow to the whole prefect system. The professors both looked fit to be tied. I really don't envy that lot when they wake up."

""Well, all those of you who said we were being paranoid to keep hiding all this time, I guess you see now that, sadly, we were absolutely right to. If the upperclassmen had pulled this a few years ago, when there were a lot fewer of us and we didn't have as much security, there would have been a very different outcome." 

"I can't believe they did that. I mean…they were really going to try breaking in and stealing the place from us? Steal all our hard work?" Lavender gasped.

"Our money, our wireless station" Seamus reminded her.

"Those big jerks!"

"What a bunch of creeps." Parvati agreed.

"I'm glad they got munched on by doxies!"

"Aren't we all. Aren't we all." 

 

"I canna believe those…those…ugh! I dinna even have words. Upperclassmen…prefects! Don't get me started on the Head boy and girl. We've already taken points from the lot, but obviously they all have to lose their badges as well. I canna believe our senior prefects could be so bloody stupid and wrongheaded!" McGonagall huffed furiously as she and Flitwick settled into their seats in front of Dumbledore's desk, while the headmaster got himself situated in his own seat.

"And what of the others?"

"You're right…the rest may not have been prefects, but they're still senior students and should have more sense. Detentions, I guess, unless we're to expel the lot of them."

"I was talking about the students who put up the traps, Minerva." Dumbledore chided, peering at her from over his half-moon glasses. "We can hardly condone the children putting up dangerous wards to hurt their fellow students, it would serve a poor precedent."

"Albus, I helped the children set up the ill-intent ward and the triggers for the secondary defenses. They pointed out that they weren't really able to keep out adults the same way they'd been able to keep out other children, we teachers insisted on that much. They were worried about another Skeeter incident and asked me for suggestions. The ill-intent ward would keep out anyone heading there with mischief in mind, and the secondary defenses only trigger if one tries to dismantle the wards and get in anyway. It was doxies, boggarts and pixies, Albus. They were supposed to simply delay the intruder long enough for a portrait to alert someone that there was a break-in in progress. It honestly never occurred to any of us that said intruders would prove so incompetent that they would need to be carried away on stretchers to the medical wing!" Flitwick objected. 

"Yes, really, they're a shame on Hogwarts the lot of them. I can certainly understand the need for security after that wretched woman robbed the place…I never would have guessed there would be another incident so soon after, and from within, no less." McGonagall agreed.

Dumbledore nodded, but he was a bit irritated. He missed the days when everyone would simply do what he said. These days, all anyone seemed to do was argue with him and he was getting heartily sick of it. 

"Very well. We need a new head boy and girl. I think Mr. Heisenberger and Miss Llewellyn would do nicely."

"I'm not sure I agree. I think we should choose other candidates." Flitwick interjected.

"You would prefer Mr. Fletcher and Miss McCool? I'm not sure either their grades or their past conduct…"

"I think we should consider other candidates." McGonagall spoke up, echoing Flitwick's earlier words.

"The only seventh year left that didn't take part is Miss Ferrier and…"

"They're the only Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seventh years that didn't take part. No Hufflepuffs, sixth or seventh year did, and only three Slytherins, all sixth years, did. They left without trying to dismantle anything once they ran afoul of the ill-intent ward. We don't know their intentions, but they may have planned to set pranks in the place, it would be in character. They were scolded by their housemates when they returned. I think having the head girl and boy badges leave the houses they were residing in until now will really bring home to everyone that they were in the wrong and we do not approve."

"A Slytherin head boy or girl? Goodness, that hasn't happened in quite a while. About fifty years, in fact…isn't that right, Albus?" Phinneas Nigellus' portrait spoke up from the wall.

"I don't know what you're complaining about, it's been centuries since a Hufflepuff was. I like this idea, you should definitely do it." Dillys Derwent, another former headmistress called down from her portrait.

McGonagall and Flitwick both blinked in surprise and turned to look at the portrait.

"Centuries? Really?"

"Yes, it's true. Hufflepuff has gotten no glory of any kind in centuries, not until now. That Cedric Diggory is the greatest thing to happen to Hufflepuff since Helga. It went on so long, we had seriously wondered if Hufflepuff house was under a curse… It seems now it was just bad luck or something." 

"Goodness."

"How about Marley Bucket and Caligula Fawcett?" McGonagall suggested.

"I suppose they'll do." Dumbledore agreed without much enthusiasm.

"Bucket and Fawcett with do nicely." Flitwick agreed. "We can give them their badges at lunch. The others should be out of the hospital wing by then."

"So soon? Poppy usually keeps the children for a few days."

"There was nothing life threatening, and we all agreed they should be back among the students, not languishing in the hospital wing like they're on vacation."

"I think Jones and Bellamy for the new sixth year prefects, Heisenberger and McCool for seventh."

"Llewellyn and Fletcher for seventh, Johnson and Jordan for sixth." McGonagall added. "I'm sure the twins will be appalled."

Flitwick chuckled and nodded. "I'm sure they will be."

 

Lunch that afternoon was a rather lively affair; the new prefects and head boy and girl were awarded their badges in front of the whole student body. The twins were in fact appalled that their two good friends, Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson were prefects and thus part of the establishment--they cried and carried on quite comically through the remainder of the meal. The former head girl burst into tears when Dumbledore handed Marley Bucket her badge and she continued weeping into her food for the rest of lunch. The would be thieves continued to have bad luck for the rest of the week--they had an uncommon number of accidents--tripping, bags ripping, ink bottles smashing and ruining homework…several also received howlers from irate parents over the next couple of breakfasts. Eventually things settled back down and life went on--exams were fast approaching, as were the OWLs and NEWTs for the fourth and seventh years, so no one really had the time or energy to continue tormenting them for too long.

The Hufflepuffs, by contrast, were walking around in a sort of daze. The new head girl was a Hufflepuff, as was Hogwarts' Tri-Wizard Champion, on top of that, they were currently in the lead for the house cup. It was a most unprecedented state of affairs for the 'house of duffers' and most of them weren't quite sure how to react.

As April turned into May, it was increasingly obvious that spring had come in with a vengeance. The skies were blue, the weather was mild, grass was growing, trees were budding, there seemed to be flowers sprouting everywhere. It made it difficult to concentrate for the students, all of whom wanted nothing more than to be outside in the warmth, not stuck inside doing schoolwork--but the end of term was just a few weeks away and there was much to be done before then. 

It was with this thought in mind that prompted Harry to linger behind transfiguration class one day, rather than heading outside with his friends like he wanted to.

"Can I help you, Mr. Potter?"

"Actually yes. I wanted to ask a bit of a favor. I've been attempting the animagus transformation, but I'm at a point now where I'm actually starting to transform and I'm worried about getting stuck. I think that worry has been hampering my attempts."

"You silly boy! That was very dangerous!"

"I've only tried it twice while in school, all the rest of the time I was supervised. A friend of mine who's already out of school was with me at first, and then Sirius was helping a bit during summer and the winter holidays. I'd like to be done by the time I take my OWLs, if possible, which means I'll need someone to spot me while I'm attempting to complete the transformation. I was hoping it might be worth extra credit on the transfiguration OWL."

"It might very well be worth a NEWT, it is advanced human transfiguration, after all. I'm not actually certain about that--before finding out your father and his friends had done it as fifth years I would have said it was impossible for someone so young, and I'm sure most adults would have agreed with me, so there's no real precedent. You probably should have waited a bit. Why the rush?"

"My parents were, I was bored one day and thought it would be cool…and now that I know my form can fly I'm eager to give it a try."

"You're a bird of some sort? Let's see how far you've gotten."

"I'm actually a feathered rainbow serpent thing…with antlers. I don't know what it's called. It's kind of cool, sort of pretty…it's also really damn obvious and I can pretty much forget about ever using my form to be stealthy in any way, but whatever." 

She gave him a look over her glasses and he could tell she didn't quite believe him--but then, animagus forms were usually quite mundane animals, so he wasn't too surprised by that.

He concentrated and could feel his face beginning to protrude, and then stopped and took off his glasses, which were in danger of falling off his face. He started concentrating again and grimaced as he began to feel the antlers begin to form and his hair turning into feathers. His arms began to warp, and his body to stretch, which caused his pants to start to fall. He hurriedly grabbed at his pants to hold them up and tried concentrating again, but the moment was lost.

"Meet me the hour before dinner tonight, I'll give you a more detailed schedule then. I can see the first thing we need to work on already--how to work your clothing into the transformation. I want your promise, Mr. Potter, that you'll not go trying this while alone anymore."

Harry nodded and hitched his pants a bit higher. 

"Can you reverse the changes you've made?"

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on returning to his usual self--it was a strange feeling, one he still hadn't quite gotten used to. He really wanted to transform already--Tom had completed his transformation and had even gone flying a few times, even though they'd started at the same time. It was so unfair.  
He felt his body settle back into its usual configuration and then wriggled his feet to settle them more comfortably in his shoes and squirmed a bit to make his clothing settle more comfortably as well, before putting his glasses back on. 

"I shall see you tonight, Mr. Potter."  
"I'll be there, professor. Thanks." 

 

The weekend was a blessed relief to most. Harry was stuck inside half the day for his lesson with McGonagall, till she finally decided he'd had enough for the day and sent him packing. The students were spread out across the lawn in every direction, though there were a few spots that seemed busier than others. He saw Colin and Dennis fussing near the new video camera while a group of other students all dressed in costumes milled around nearby. Curious, he wandered over to take a look.

"What's going on?"

"We're just about ready to begin filming the live action Tales of Beedle the Bard. Back up, would you? You're leaning on the cackling stump."

"Oh, sorry."

Harry backed off and watched for a few minutes, before wandering over to where there was a photo shoot in progress. 

"Calendar?" he asked Parvati curiously.

"Yep. We figured we'd do the spring set first since the weather has been so nice. We'll do fall and winter indoors. We're going to do summer last probably in June. We thought we'd let it warm up a bit more. The outfits we made for summer aren't skimpy or anything, but we figured everyone might still be a bit chilly in them. Lavender, lucky dog, is over helping with the boys' photo shoot by the lake."

"There are eighteen boys, remember. I'm sure you can switch off if you really want to."

"True."

"It looks good so far. That's a sari, right?"

"Sort of. It's premade to drape like a sari, but it's not actually one. Lav pointed out that most British witches wouldn't have the first clue what to do with one."

"It's pretty, and you can't really see the difference from here. I'm sure it'll be a hit. What's with all the jewelry though?" he wondered, pointing to their model, a Beauxbatons girls who hailed from Greece. There were gold and bejeweled ornaments in her hair, dozens of gold bangles on her wrists, heavy gold earrings at her ears and a large jewel studded necklace on her neck completed things.

"To make it look dressy, expensive and exotic."

"I think you managed. I can't wait to see the finished product."

"Me either. This is kind of exciting, really." 

"I'm going to go see how the other shoot's doing."

"Alright, see you around."

He wandered towards the lake and found Morag busily snapping photos of one of the Durmstrang boys sword-fighting against an invisible opponent, he was then replaced by another who lounged around beneath a tree reading a book, then later by another who brooded by the lakeside and skipped stones across it.   
He wandered towards the sound of struck metal and found a group busily working in the smithy. An animated bellows was keeping the fire hot while animated tongs and hammers were busily working the metal. It was surprisingly cool in there.

"Silly boy, we are wizards. I showed them a spell to keep the heat in the forge."

"He taught us a soot repelling charm as well. Just think, no more getting filthy in the floo."

"Good idea, though an imperturbable on your clothing works too."

"Well, yeah… stop raining on our parade." 

"Sorry." Harry laughed. "So what are you making?"

"Chisels. They're for the art department. Dean wants to learn to sculpt by doing it by hand first for some reason."

"He does all his art by hand first; that's why his charms to do the same thing always work so well--he actually knows what he's doing, and that translates into his spell work."

"I guess. It seems a lot of bother."

"The extra effort is worth it."

"Is true. That is why you must learn smithing, not just charm the instruments. You can charm all the hammers you like, but if you don't actually understand what is involved, the hammer will bang but it will not do so correctly in the way that you need. If you understand the subtleties, you can imbue your tools with that knowledge when you charm them and they will learn as you do." 

"It's true. My cousin Nympadora can't do a 'pack' charm to save her life. When she tries it, everything just flings itself into the trunk every which way, because that's how she packs if she does it by hand. Her mother's charm is a thing of beauty--socks pair themselves, and even underwear gets neatly folded. Everything fits itself into a layered puzzle that fills up all the available space. She can fit about three times what her daughter can in the same sized trunk, and everything still looks nice when she gets wherever she's going." 

"See? No shortcuts until you know what you're doing, or you'll never do it as well as it could be done."

Harry stuck around for a while for the lesson, and then wandered off again, this time towards the Melting Pot to see what was going on there. In the Melting Pot itself there were Beauxbatons and Hogwarts girls getting fittings on their outfits for the calendar, the art club was busy putting the finishing touches on the 'winter' and 'autumn' sets they had built in the courtyard for the photo shoots. He stopped for a bit to listen to the newest ghost, Signor Vetraio, who had recently arrived from Italy, and was instructing the new glassmaking club in his art. Afterwards he went to hang out for a bit with the pottery club--his name was Potter, after all. He thought he should probably know his way around the art. So far, he was rather bad at it, though the ghost the Baron had called up--oddly enough a distant relative of his--assured him that mastery would come with time. He put his little lopsided cup in with the others about to be fired and wandered off again. He peeked into a nearby room and found some of his friends draped across the couches within.

"What are you guys doing?"  
"Hanging out."  
"Being bored."  
"Staring at the ceiling."  
"Oooh, mindless fun. Count me in." Harry replied sarcastically.

"So suggest something else."

"Um…how about we figure out what all we'll have at the resort we'll be building this summer."

"How about a casino?" Draco suggested.

"Sounds good. What else?"

"We could host an international gobstones tournament." Luna suggested.

"Why the hell would we do that?" Theo wanted to know.

"Gobstones is apparently a lot bigger than we gave it credit for. We had Lee Jordan cover the last gobstones tournament here, remember? We got tons of mail about it." Crabbe informed him.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, apparently there's a whole group of people out there who love the game and are real excited that it's getting taken seriously or something. We could probably make a fortune catering to their weird festish for smelling bad." Harry nodded.

"Only the losers smell bad. Apparently the point of the game is to get your opponent squirted, not yourself." Goyle informed him.

"Oh. Okay, that makes much more sense, really. The only thing I was ever told about the game was that the pieces shot you with smelly gunk. I really had no desire to investigate further."

"Me either. Learn something new every day, huh?" Theo agreed.

"So…there's a huge untapped market of gobstones freaks out there huh? We can charge a fee to take part in the tournament, we'd be guaranteed a profit that way." Pansy mused.

"Yeah, really hype it up, cover it on the wireless and have prizes and a banquet afterwards or something. Make a big event out of the thing." Draco agreed.

"Now you're talking." 

"Okay, what else?"

"Duelling tournaments"  
"Beauty pageants"  
"Chef bake-off"  
"Dance marathon"  
"Um…boat races"  
"Weddings"  
"Talent search."

"Sounds good. Did anyone write any of that down?" Crabbe yawned.

"No, but I will. We make a good team, huh?" 

"You bet. Today Hogwarts, tomorrow the world." Theo agreed peaceably.


	11. Summer Solstice Part 2: the move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wizards travel to a new world, but life doesn't stop--there are still OWLs and the last task of the tournament to get through.

"I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by." Seamus noted.

"I know, it really has been going pretty fast." Dean agreed.

"OWLs are just around the corner. Are you still getting tutoring from Professor McGonagall?" Hermione demanded.

"No, it just ended. I'm finally caught up to where I should be." Harry replied, his voice and manner bland.

Hermione sniffed disdainfully and gave him a gimlet stare. 

"I can't believe you allowed yourself to fall so far behind, and in OWL year no less. I hope you appreciate the professor taking time out of her busy schedule like that. She would have been perfectly within her rights to let you fail. The teacher has a responsibility to teach, but the student has a responsibility to learn. If you were slacking off and not doing your part, it would have served you right. As it stands, you'll probably be lucky to scrape a passing grade if you needed so much tutoring at the last minute. You probably won't qualify to continue on to NEWT studies. I bet you'll feel pretty stupid in a few more years when I and the rest of us that didn't spend the year slacking off are all doing things you can't comprehend because you've had three less years of study in the subject." Hermione lectured. 

Personally, Harry thought she sounded entirely too gleeful about being able to eventually rub his face in her NEWT mastery of transfiguration. Boy, she was going to feel pretty dumb when she realized what he was actually getting tutored in. He really couldn't wait till the transfiguration OWL. He hoped she was nearby when he finally got a chance to show off his animagus form. He really wanted to savor the look on her face--she'd been bitching and lecturing and gloating like this since he'd started practicing with the professor, and he felt fully justified in getting a bit of payback. He just smiled blandly at her and nodded, while noting from the corner of his eye that Neville, Dean, Seamus and Ron were all trying not to laugh--they all knew what he'd been doing, and had been after him for weeks to show them his form. He knew they were planning to stick around to see him do his OWL practical if possible. He was certain they'd make sure Hermione did as well. They all wanted to see her horror-struck face almost as much as he himself did. Her endless nagging had worn all their tempers thin, not just his.

"Solstice tomorrow." He said, changing the subject. "We'll be taking our OWLs in the new world. The last task of the tournament will be there as well, so will the end of year fair this year. I'm a little irked that we'll be stuck at school so long this year. I was planning to build a summer house--I'll have almost two weeks less to do it in than I normally would. I can't say I'm too happy about that." 

"I want to see the place when it's done." Dean said.

"Sure. If I manage to finish it before the summer is over I'll host a little get-together before we head back to school. Otherwise, you'll have to wait till next summer."

"I can't believe we're really going to another world." Hermione said quietly. 

She and Dean exchanged a look and they both hunkered down, miserable and worried and depressed. They both believed they were doing what was ultimately best for themselves, but time and distance had softened their feelings of displacement that they'd experienced over the winter holidays while home with their families enough that they were both second-guessing themselves and wondering if they were making the right decision. After tomorrow they'd never see their families again. It wasn't something they could change their minds on or take back. They wouldn't even be able to call them or write to them anymore. The thing that stayed with them and kept them in place rather than running off screaming back to their homes and families was the sure knowledge that if they left now they would be effectively giving up magic for all time. The ten days away from magic at break time had left them feeling empty, twitchy, out of sorts and unwell the longer it went on. Neither could countenance living like that for the rest of their lives, and so here they sat, hearts aching but resolute. 

"Colin, Dennis…how are the two of you faring? Any last minute regrets?" Hermione asked the younger boys kindly.

"About what?"

"Leaving your family behind."

"What do you mean?"

"The move. You're muggleborn as well."

"Actually, it seems our dad is a squib, not a muggle. We told him what was happening, so he quit his job at the dairy where he worked and moved to Hogsmeade so he could be nearby and go with us when we left. He said the muggle world was coming over all strange like and he didn't like it much. He's got a job helping out in a couple of the shops doing odd jobs for the moment."

"What about your mother?"

"She died when I was four and Dennis was two. It's just been the three of us all this time."

"Oh. That's good. How nice for you."

"I guess. We're a little worried, truth to tell. It's great dad's planning to come with us, but well…lots of folks don't like squibs, we've noticed. I guess we just wonder whether he'll be happy. It won't be easy for him, living among wizards all the time. Most don't, nor do they want to. Mr. Filch is kind of an oddball in that way." 

"I'm sure he'll be fine. There's not a huge number of squibs, but there's enough for them to form a community to support each other, and I'm sure we can help them find work if it comes to that. We will be trying to establish trade with the other countries in the new world. Frankly, the squib population would be my first choice to work that end of things. I often find myself cringing in reflexive horror watching magical-world-raised purebloods trying to interact with muggles. Even the ones that are supposedly pro-muggle act like their visiting a zoo rather than dealing with fellow human beings. I'd like to keep those who only lived in the magical world as far from the denizens of the new world as possible for as long as possible." 

"I'm sure he'll be real happy to hear that. He's tried putting a good face on things for us, but I'm sure he's been at least a little worried about it." 

 

The rest of the day passed in a blur for most. Now that the hour was fast approaching, everyone was tense with anticipation for the move. Last minute worries and regrets plagued everyone, as did doubts--would they like it? Would they miss their home for the rest of their lives? What would become of everyone here? What about friends and families being left behind? Were they making the right choice? Could they have found another solution had they looked a bit harder? Was it really necessary? On and on. By bedtime most everyone was frazzled and exhausted from all their fretting, but sleep was elusive for more than one person that night. 

Harry was one of them. He lay for what seemed like hours, staring at the underside of his canopy, and then between one breath and the next he was _in his animagus form, flying over the new world, and looking down at it from the sky. He was right near the spot he’d unconsciously claimed as his own when they were here last, investigating. He could already picture it…the keep would go there…fields of planted vegetables over there…there an orchard, filled with fruit trees and bushes full of berries…grazing for the animals…little houses dotting the landscape, each with lots of room around it, forest in between and around it, like small civilized oases…the shopping district there…the hospital…._

As he dreamed, he imagined how it would be…there, a perfect spot for trolls—high mountains where there were no humans around for miles and miles, interspersed with rivers and forests, so all the species of troll could find a niche…there, mountains for goblins, each range contained on its own separate landmass, a large island. He could picture unicorns running free, and the centaurs gathered on the plains to watch the stars, while they tried to learn the language of the heavens there…

A flash of blue caught his eyes, and he saw Tom, in his animagus form, undulating through the air to join him. Tom pointed out a spot he thought the middle eastern wizards would like—it was rather like the area they were in now, and another he thought the wizards of the northern climes would enjoy…there another for the Mediterranean wizards and the African wizards…the Tibetans would probably end up living in and around one of the air temples, and feel right at home—and the yetis would follow them. 

The continued flying, and they saw Aang, meditating on a mountain, and flew closer to see him. He opened his eyes when they approached, and smiled. He leapt to where Harry hovered, and landed on his back, and the three of them continued their journey, looking out over the world.

_“I can’t wait—so many new places to visit, so many new people to meet!”_   
Harry began doing loops, which made Aang laugh delightedly, even as he held on a bit tighter. Tom circled around them both, and then he and Harry did an impromptu dance there in the sky.  
As they flew, they drew near an island.  
 _“Come on! This way! I want you two to meet some people!”_

They angled downward and found themselves flying over a strange island, that seemed more mist and cloud than anything. In the center of this misty place was a large pavilion, inside of which was a very large, round table with equally large stools spaced evenly around it. Two dragons, a red and a blue, were seated already, with teacups in their hands. Harry and Tom transformed back to their human selves—their serpent forms had no legs or arms, unlike the dragons. Once they were seated, others joined them—Yue and a man with a beard and long hair who smelled vaguely of fish—he looked rather like an Asian Poseidon, actually--, two giant badger moles, two massive sky bison appeared and sat to either side of Aang, and a lion-turtle took the last seat. They drank tea and ate and traded stories—the bearded man with Yue was a fisherman the ocean gave part of his lifeforce to in order to save him from drowning. When the man died, La had reabsorbed that power and gained a human form like Yue had. The two dragons were Ran and Shaw, the spirits of firebending. The two sky bison were Pema and Choenden, and they were the spirits of airbending. The two badger moles were Hou-Chi and Hou-Tu, the spirits of earthbending, and the lion turtle…was the spirit that Aang was avatar of. His name was Shangdi. 

It was a strange dream, and an odd tea party, yet while it was going on it all made perfect sense that they should be there in such company—after all, it only made sense to make nice with their soon-to-be new neighbors. They stayed there for what might have been hours…or days, or years--time seemed a distant, inconsequential thing, but then suddenly Harry woke. He could hear his roommates stirring, and he could feel the magic in the air. It was time. The solstice was there.

 

Petunia Dursley woke and looked around bleary-eyed, wondering what had disturbed her sleep. She glanced over, and found Vernon sleeping soundly, occasionally muttering to himself. She rose and looked around the room, and found nothing out of place, and Dudley wasn’t home from school yet, so it wasn’t him…  
She crept downstairs, listening for anything out of place, but all was as it should be; clean, orderly, and above all, normal.

She opened the front door and stepped outside, to see the first rays of sunlight just touching the horizon. Everything was still and silent—strangely so, as though the whole world was holding its breath. Goose pimples suddenly erupted across her skin as a feeling—a wild, crazy feeling—seemed to suddenly fill the air around her. She heard laughter, and stepped into the street and looked around. It was coming from Wisteria Walk…

She crept forward, and saw a most unusual sight; Mrs. Figg—the neighborhood’s resident batty-old-cat-lady, was dancing in her yard with her cats, who kept standing on their hind legs to twirl around. Mrs. Figg was barefoot, and her hair was out of its usual bun, to hang in a free, wild tangle down her back and around her face. She was clad only in a light nightgown, and was twirling and leaping among her cats like a woman a fraction her age, and as she danced, her house, the cats, and herself, all started to glow and then fade away. Petunia stumbled towards the spot, unable to believe her eyes, but it was true—there was only an empty lot there. The house, the woman and the dancing cats were gone. 

Petunia stood there, trembling, and she could suddenly see two pathways laid out before her—in one, she could fly away, and live a fairytale—knights and dragons and unicorns…the other, her life would continue on as it was, and she would finally, truly, have the normal life she said so loudly and so often that she craved….

For a moment, the longing that had seized her in her childhood, after Lily had gotten a letter to that school, but she herself had not, came rushing back, out from under the bitterness, and the jealousy and the spite that had scabbed over it in the years after. She had hated her sister and her nephew for so long for being able to go where she could never follow…but she could this time, she could feel it in her bones…and for just a second she let herself imagine it.

She indulged for a moment, and finally let go of the painful wound she’d nursed in her heart for so many years.

She wasn’t a child anymore—she was a grown woman, with a home and a husband and a son who she loved to distraction. Lily had dove right in to the magical world and never looked back, and she’d been content there for the short time she was a part of it. Lily didn’t mind having a toaster that talked, or a tea pot that served the tea on its own, or having people suddenly appear and disappear around her, or decide to turn into animals.

Petunia had wanted that too, when she was a child. She had thought it sounded wonderful, and it had hurt so terribly to be told it wasn’t for her.

She had been so disappointed and so angry…that somewhere along the way, she’d failed to realize that she didn’t actually want to live in a world like that. She wanted things to be what they were and nothing else. She didn’t want her son to go off battling dragons, or turning into a dog so he could marry a dog-woman….she liked her routines, and her normal life, and her family just the way they were. 

She felt like a tremendous weight had lifted off her heart.  
She was normal, and that was just fine with her. 

When she focused back on the world around her, she let out a small scream.

"Duddy!"

Trembling she tottered forward, tears of horror already pricking at her eyes. She could see her son, colorless and as translucent as a ghost and she realized he too was being given a choice. 

"No…Duddy, NO! You can't, you can't!" she moaned miserably. 

Magic had already taken her sister, it was taking her nephew…it couldn't have her son as well! She tried to grab him, shake him, gather him up--anything--but there was nothing physical there for her to grab hold of.   
Suddenly, Dudley's gaze sharpened and he gave himself a little shake, then jumped and shrieked. 

"MUM!"

"Duddy! You can't go with them! I forbid it!"

Dudley looked at her like she was insane. 

"I'm not going anywhere mum. I'd have to give up my computer, the telly, I'd never get a car…maybe Harry thinks living in a no-tech medieval society is great fun, but not me. If his lot were more Dr. Who then Lord of the Rings I might have considered it…" Dudley trailed off, though it was obvious why. Harry was there with them, looking fey and otherworldly and as ghostlike as Dudley did.

Harry smiled wryly at the two of them and raised a hand in farewell. 

“It's time. Goodbye, Aunt Petunia. Goodbye, Dudley. Have a good life.”

Dudley sighed and put his hands in his pockets. 

"Take care of yourself, Harry. Don't get eaten by a dragon or anything." 

Harry grinned back and shook his head, before vanishing. Dudley disappeared as well.

The sun rose over the horizon, and a rainbow of light burst across the world, and the sky overhead sparkled…and then it went away, and it was just a normal day, in a normal world--and Petunia was just a normal housewife standing in an empty lot in a suburban neighborhood in her nightgown. She could feel it in her bones. She was never going to see her nephew or any of his lot ever again in her lifetime.

They were gone.

“Goodbye, Harry.” She whispered. Then, she covered her face, and wept.

 

Light was the first thing he became aware of.

“Ow…bright.”

The second thing he noticed is that he was lying on grass, and a small rock was digging into his hip.  
The third thing was the presence of another…scratch that…the presence of many, many people nearby.  
The fourth thing he noticed is that he was tired…more tired than he could ever remember being before in his life.   
That’s when everything came rushing back. 

Harry sat up suddenly, and looked around. Hogwarts stood behind him, proudly outlined against a cerulean sky. All across the lawn, students, teachers and guests lay sprawled, sound asleep.

Beside him, Tom’s eyes fluttered open, then widened, and he sat up suddenly as well.

"Ow…bright. Ugh."  
"Are you okay?" Harry croaked.

"Headrush…and I'm exhausted."  
"You're not alone in that. I don't even want to move."

“Tell me we made it.”

“I just woke up myself. I’m guessing by the fact that we’re in one piece and everyone’s out cold and exhausted is probably a good sign that it worked.” Harry replied.

"We should probably find out for sure. I'd like to know if I'm going to have to flee an enraged mob, after all." 

"Good point." 

 With a groan, they climbed wearily to their feet and looked around.

On first inspection, everything looked pretty much the same—Hogwarts, the lake, Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest. It was only when one really started looking that the differences started to jump out. They, the forest, the village and the castle were nestled amongst high mountains…but they weren’t the highlands of Scotland that they were familiar with…though he did recognize the area. They were in the mountains near the Western Air Temple, in a spot Harry had thought resembled the highlands of Scotland when they were there last. He knew Durmstrang was hidden away in the mountains further north, near the Northern Air temple, just south of the Northern Water Tribe, and that Beauxbatons was on one of the small uninhabited islands off the coast of Fire Nation. The rest of the large wizarding schools were scattered elsewhere, in the far corners of the new world; so that in the event the wizarding country were to come under attack, there would be places to send the children, at least, to ensure their survival. They had been planning for the long term.

This was part of the Air Nomads territory, and no new people had moved into the area in the hundred years since the genocide. Maybe one day the temple would be full of Air Nomads again, but for the moment, there was just Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and the forest, plus the native flora and fauna."

"We did it." Tom said with quiet relief.  
"Yeah. Wow. We really did." 

They turned to look at each other, smiled and laughed. Harry threw up his arms and whooped excitedly, then threw his arms around Tom and kissed him. Tom was startled for about half a second, but then he wrapped possessive arms around Harry and kissed him back with interest.

They were so involved in what they were doing, they had quite forgotten that the whole population of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade was sprawled out across the lawn unconscious. They also didn't realize someone other than themselves was awake, at least, not until said person made a startled exclamation that sounded rather like a dying pterodactyl--or so Harry guessed. They separated reluctantly and turned to look and found headmaster Dumbledore across the lawn a ways, staring at the two of them in horror.

_“It just figures. We can’t seem to get away from him.”_ Tom hissed discontentedly.  
 _“It doesn’t matter—it’s done. He can’t change it or reverse it, even if he wants to.”_ Harry hissed back.  
 _“True. I guess we’d best get this over with.”_

 

“Tom. Harry.” 

“Albus.” The two boys replied in unison.

“What have you foolish boys done?”

“Come off your high horse, Albus. What we did was save us all.”

“Does your hatred of muggles truly run so deeply?”

“It wasn’t hatred of muggles that prompted this move, Albus, it was love of magic. Magic itself was dying.”

“Really Tom, spare me your grandiose pronouncements.”

“ _Magic itself was dying._ You don’t seem to realize how close to the brink of extinction we all were. Magic chose to save itself before it was too late, and we were her instruments. It is done, Albus. We’re in a new world, and it took the combined power of the solstice, as well as every witch, wizard, magical being and magical creature that chose to travel to accomplish it. This is our home now, for better or worse.” 

“You were off at Hogwarts, far from muggle incursion, far from the pollution, and overcrowding, and the surveillance. It was easy for you to look down your nose at everyone who didn’t like how things were, because you never had to deal with it” Harry added. 

“We have the time, the space and the leisure to set up our own, separate, completely magical country right from the outset—and there’s no Merlin this time to throw his weight around and force two incompatible peoples to live together when that’s something only a very small number of witches and wizards overall even wants. Everyone who came across wants to live a magical life in an all magical community—we were all—every witch, wizard, being and creature—given the choice to stay or go. Most chose to go. The giants refused—they wanted to get away from wizards, and destroy the muggles that encroached on their old territories. The vampires and redcaps chose similarly—both to get away from wizards and to have free rein to eat or beat as many muggles as they wanted. The dementors chose the same for the same reasons—a smorgasbord of souls, or so they thought. They’re all dead now, and whatever magic they held has been returned to the source.”

“All the death eaters in Azkaban are dead as well—they were all too enamored of the idea of setting out to kill and torture muggles again, and making the muggleborn kneel to their betters—they weren’t willing to accept that, so far as magic is concerned, anyone gifted with magic is hers, and no better or worse than anyone else.”

“All the squibs that came across—thirty five became Air benders, and the remaining fourteen, who were all from the far north, or far south, became water benders; it was a deal we made with the spirits of this world, an exchange for the few unborn babies gifted with magic in the year we were here in this world setting the anchors to bring us across, and a gift to this world to help restore their shattered balance.” 

“Air benders? Water benders?”

“There are already magical people in this world; they each control an element. There was a genocide of the Airbenders a hundred years ago, and a good number of the water benders were wiped out in a war that raged in the intervening years. Currently there are sixteen airbenders in the world, which isn’t enough for a breedable population—even with the addition of our thirty five, it will be some time before their numbers approach anything like there used to be, though they were always few in number. All the squibs who longed to be a part of the magical world have been gifted with the power to control the winds or the waters, a gift they’ll be able to pass down to their children. With the inclusion of all of us to this world, there is at the moment, an almost equal number of magical and nonmagical people, rather than the .01% magical to 99.9% non-magical that always existed in our old world. Hopefully, that will be enough of a balance to keep us from being squeezed into the corners again.” Harry explained.

“So…we’re all to live here, in the mountains around Hogwarts?”

“No. The schools were scattered across the whole world, as a backup plan to ensure our longterm survival. The new wizarding homeland is across the ocean thataway, on a peninsula, with a few scattered islands around it”

They could tell Dumbledore had a lot more questions, and that he was still rather stunned about the move, but the unconscious people scattered across the grounds were stirring, as had the folks of Hogsmeade, it seemed, as many of them were trooping up to the castle, most of them looking rather the worse for wear. 

It took a while to get everyone peeled off the ground and back into the castle. Everyone was completely exhausted and shuffling across the grounds like old men and women, even the youngest among them. Eventually, everyone was settled in the great hall. It was surprisingly quiet--normally, everyone would have been clamoring for answers, or engaging in wild speculation. It was a mark of how tired everyone was that they were content to sit quietly and wait for answers. After they had been seated for a while, watching with sleepy curiosity as the teachers, headmaster, staff and Tom and Harry conferred at the front of the hall, pitchers of tea, coffee and hot chocolate began appearing on the tables. Everyone stirred themselves enough to grab the beverage of their choice, and Madame Pomfrey addressed those gathered.

"Everyone, if I could have your attention. Please refrain from using any magic until you're given the all-clear. Everyone is quite exhausted, and it could be dangerous. Do yourselves a favor and don't even touch your wands for the next few days at least. Time, rest and a few hearty meals should put you to rights. It would be foolish in the extreme to do yourself lasting harm because you were impatient."

Though the hot drinks seemed to have perked everyone up slightly, no one really looked to be in any mood to exert themselves.

"Just tell us one thing." Draco Malfoy's tired drawl pierced the silent hall. "Did it work? Are we in a new world?"

The sound of everyone's heads turning in unison to face the front of the great hall was sort of creepy, Harry thought.

"We are indeed in a new world. If you would all give me but a moment…" Tom Riddle broke away from the teacher's huddle and took his place on the dais which held the head table at the front of the room and started pulling something from his pockets, which he enlarged and set up so everyone could see. 

"What you see here is a map of the new world. We are currently here." He tapped the map with his wand and enlarged the target area, which showed the area around the Western Air Temple. The picture zoomed in to show a large island covered with tall mountains on which the temple was held. Tom pointed to the southwest section of the island, which was otherwise uninhabited "This here is Hogwarts new home."

"Where are our families and everyone else? Are they on one of the little islands off the coast?" A Hufflepuff first year asked tremulously.

"No…" Tom prevaricated a moment as he restored the map to its original configuration and then tapped another section "Everyone is here. This is the new wizarding homeland, this peninsula and the surrounding islands."

"But…that's across the ocean on another continent!" Hermione shrieked. "How are we supposed to travel there?"

"What of Beauxbatons?" One of the students of said school demanded.  
"What of Durmstrang?"

"I can answer part of zhat, at least." Madame Maxime spoke up as she stood from where she had sat huddled with her students. 

Everyone who hadn't seen the woman already or noticed the changes in her, gaped in astonishment. She had shrunk. She was still tall for a woman at six foot, but as she had previously been twelve foot tall she still looked quite delicate and petite in comparison. 

"My dear Madame, what has happened to you?" Dumbledore queried in astonishment as she made her way to the front of the hall. 

Maxime jutted her chin proudly and her flinty eyes dared anyone to comment as she explained.

"When we were being given our choice, I learned zhat I was the only one of my kind in existence, and zhat ze giants had chosen to stay behind. As I was only 'alf-giant I was allowed to choose which 'alf of my heritage I wished to follow. I am now completely 'uman. Eet weel take some getting used to." she finished quietly as she pulled a lace-edged hanky from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. 

She pulled off her delicate mannerisms much better now. She had always been rather refined, but a twelve foot tall woman was still a twelve foot tall woman, no matter how you sliced it. She finally approached the map and searched for a few moments, before tapping her wand to enlarge it to center on a small island off the coast of Fire Nation, almost halfway between it and the peninsula that now held the wizards. 

"I hold ze wards for Beauxbatons and was aware of eets placement when we were in transition. Eet weel be a slightly longer journey to return than eet was to travel to Scotland from ze south of France, but eet should be easily manageable nonezeless."

"Where's Durmstrang then?" Ron asked loudly.

"That is none of your business!" Headmaster Karkaroff exclaimed.

"It's up here somewhere." Tom replied blandly, tapping the map again, this time on the mountain range that bordered the northern Earth Kingdom and separated it from the Northern Water Tribe. "There's plenty of water thereabouts, so I'm sure they'll have no trouble getting their ship back."

"What about all of us? We always took the train before and now our homes are on another bloody continent!" Fred Weasley shouted. 

"And you shall again."

"The train tracks can't settle on the water!" Hermione objected.

"Have you all forgotten magic? The train tracks were never in the same physical space as the mundane equivalents in the same area of London, and could only be seen or accessed by witches and wizards. The wizard-space the tracks resided in just showed the approximate area in normal space, so everyone wasn't stuck staring at the inside of empty space for nine hours. That tunnel of wizard space has just settled itself back slightly outside normal space and the anchor points are Hogsmeade and the peninsula. The ride home should be pretty interesting--you'll likely see underwater scenes outside your window rather than rolling hills, cows and sheep, but it should make for an interesting change." 

"I tried calling my family, but there's no answer!"  
"Me too!"  
"Oh Merlin! They're all dead!"

As a panic started to make its way through the students, Harry whistled shrilly to get everyone's attention and then hopped up on the dais beside Maxime and Tom to address everyone.

"You're not getting an answer because there's no telecommunications infrastructure yet in this world. We were piggybacking on the muggle system before. Don't throw away your phones though. We have a team that's already at work making a completely magical equivalent to take the place of the muggle system. Once it's finished and put in place, we'll have normal telephone service again, though it might be a little while. The last estimate I was given was the end of summer. Until then, everyone will have to make do with the normal floo and owl post. It's an inconvenience, but one that really couldn't be helped, given the enormity of what we've just done. When you think about it, a short delay in phone service is a really small price to pay for being in a completely different world." 

Everyone still had a million-and one questions. It was discovered that, after making coffee, tea and hot chocolate enough for everyone, all the house elves had conked back out. No messages could be sent out yet as all the owls were snoozing in the owlery. Twilight had crept in while they were having their meeting, and everyone was really too tired to really ask or answer the questions that lingered. The teachers finally gave it up as a bad job and started shooing everyone back to their beds.   
Morning, when everyone was rested and re-energized, would be soon enough to start dealing with the reality of being in a new world. 

 

"We're in a new bloody world! I can't believe they're making us go to class! We should be, I dunno, exploring or something!" Ron grumbled as the Gryffindor fourth years made their way from breakfast the next morning to their first class of the day.

"They don't really have a choice in the matter. New world or not, the third task is tomorrow and after that is the end of year exams, the OWLs and the NEWTs." Neville reminded him.

"And there will be exploration going on, it just won't be us doing it. The folks of Hogsmeade are already sending out parties to explore the area, and I heard that the NEWT CoMC students, potions students, herbology students and the like will be going out on short expeditions as well--the fifth and sixth years, the seventh years will be too busy taking their tests." Lavender added.

"That sucks. Stupid classes, stupid tournament, stupid OWLs."

"Oh, Ron, stop complaining. We'll have the rest of our lives to explore the place. We live here now." Neville reminded him.

"Yeah, we'll have the whole summer once we're done here to explore to our hearts content. Relax." Seamus added.

"You know, for being another world, it doesn't really look all that different." Hermione noted.

"This place was chosen for Hogwarts because it was very similar to the highlands." Harry explained.

The group arrived at the classroom door and trooped inside to settle at their desks. Outside, the sky was vividly blue and full of puffy white clouds drifting lazily above them. A whole new world lay just outside, itching to be discovered, and they were all going to be stuck inside for most of the day reviewing for the upcoming exams. They sighed and tried to concentrate.

 

"No, I'm totally serious! The animals around here are weird! We found a bunch of little pigs, except they were furry and had ears and tails like rabbits."  
"Yeah, they were pig-rabbits…or rabbit-pigs or something."  
"They weren't the weirdest thing we saw. There were birds that looked like a cross between birds and monkeys, birds and lizards, birds and cats…it's really bizarre. There don't seem to be any birds that are just birds in this place."  
"Some of them were kind of cute, but yeah, it's pretty weird."

"That's so unfair. We were stuck in classes."

"Don't complain. It was exhausting trekking up and down those mountains. Even worse, we were stuck with Snape all day. All those cute little animals? He had us summon one of each so he'd have them to dissect and study to see if they're any good for potions."

"Oh no! Those poor little animals!"

"Professor Sprout had everyone gathering samples too. A bunch of us had to help reorder the greenhouses to make room for the new stuff. She didn't want the stuff mixed with anything important, just in case there are problems."

"What kind of problems?"

"Bugs, parasites, that kind of thing. Plant diseases too. Any one of those things could be present without us knowing, and we don't know what effect any of it would have on the plants we have. She wasn't willing to take any chances while studying everything."

"Say, has anyone heard back from their families yet?"  
"No. The owls have to fly across the ocean, remember."  
"I'm just so worried. What if none of them made it, or something happened, or went wrong…"  
"Everyone's fine."  
"Have you heard something back?"

"No, I was the anchor for the move. I was aware of everything that was happening while we were in transition, to some degree. Nothing went wrong. There'll probably be owls coming in tomorrow sometime from everyone's parents."

"Oh no…Errol. If mum sends him off, he'll probably die trying to cross the ocean. It usually took him a week to go from Scotland to England, and even then he usually had to be carried part of the way, and we're further away now."

"I think it's completely cruel the way your family abuses that poor owl. You should let poor Errol spend his last days in peace sleeping and doing short flights in your yard to hunt, not forcing him to fly hundreds of miles carrying letters and packages when it's obvious he's on his last legs and has been for some time now. A new mail owl wouldn't be that expensive." Parvati growled.

"Mum and dad won't hear of it while there's still some life left in him. It's not my decision." 

"You should point out to your folks that it makes them look like a couple of heartless people who are so damn cheap they'd rather abuse an elderly owl than put out a couple of galleons." 

The four Weasley children started showing danger signs--red faces, grimaces, flashing eyes--all the things that indicated a developing explosion of temper.  
"How dare you!"  
"No one thinks that! Stop trash talking our mum and dad."

"Uh guys? We all think that. It's painful to watch that poor owl being carried in unconscious by other owls and dropped on your plates half-dead." Seamus spoke up while the rest of them nodded.

"Yeah, it's animal cruelty." Lavender agreed. 

"He's just a stupid mail owl!" Ron sputtered.

"You're so mean!" Lavender gasped in horror. "Don't you feel any sympathy at all?"

"You're the one suggesting we kill him!" 

"What! I am most certainly not!"

"No one said anything about killing Errol, we suggested you guys let him retire already." Neville explained.

"And let him hang around alive while being useless? Why the bloody hell would we do that?" 

"Because he's your pet, he's been with your family for ages, working himself till he was half-dead and unconscious?" Parvati huffed in outrage.

"He's not a bloody pet, he's a mail owl. What's the point of having a mail owl hanging around that can't deliver mail? That'd be pretty stupid." 

"Stay away from Hedwig." Harry huffed indignantly. "Owl-abuser."

 

The following day was the final task of the Tri-wizard tournament. Some of the students were still a bit tired from the move, which made everyone a bit concerned for the champions, given the nature of the tasks so far. With this being the last, which would decide the winner, it was bound to be something dangerous and horrifying--made all the moreso if the champions weren't at their peak. 

Classes went by with agonizing slowness. Finally, they were let out for the day to wander aimlessly until dusk.

“Looks like it’s almost time for the final task. Think we should head down and try to get good seats?" Parvati wondered.

"Yeah. I hope they have those screen things back so we can see what's going on. I heard tell there's a maze growing on the quidditch pitch. We won't be able to see anything if they didn't make arrangements. The bushes are like, twenty feet tall or something." Lavender agreed.

As the students made their way across the grounds and towards the pitch, they could see a sizeable crowd coming from Hogsmeade and headed the same way.

“I’m kinda surprised so many came out, especially with the move and all.” Neville said.

“The tasks so far have been good for watching. I’m sure they’re curious about who’ll win too.” Seamus shrugged.

“It looks like folks are already stopping by the booths, excellent.” Harry crowed.

“Such a capitalist.” 

“We’ve already made enough to completely resupply all the clubs for next year, and we haven’t tabultated the proceeds from today, or the fair yet-- and that's not even counting the donations from the Witch Weekly readers." 

“Really? We’ve made that much?” Ron asked, moments before his eyes bugged out in horror. “Bloody hell! What did they do to the pitch!”

"I told you there was a maze on it." 

“I’m guessing this is why they cancelled quidditch for the year…a bit hard to play when the pitch has been turned into a ruddy hedge-maze.” Dean realized.

“They had the dragons on it too. If you ask me, dodging dragons while trying to play would have been a bigger concern then a couple of hedges.” Neville pointed out.

“We’re going to be staring at the front of the maze for an hour, aren’t we?” Hermione sighed.

“Maybe not…look.” Ron pointed.

“Oh! They’ve put in a big screens again.”

The champions and their families were already there, waiting in front of the maze. The champs all seemed to be getting last minute advice and pep-talks. Cedric's dad was rather conspicuously absent, and his mum appeared to be wilting under the curious stares and whispers of the audience. Cedric himself looked stoic and resigned to the attention.  
   
The sky was just starting to fade when the champions were called up to enter the maze one at a time, in the order of their point standings. 

Viktor Krum went first. He strode forward boldly, shoulders back, and looked ready for anything. Cedric went next, looking determined, and he was followed by Fleur who looked grim, but resigned. 

“I think she’s already mentally taken herself out of the running. She’s been in last place since the beginning.” Parvati mused.

“I’m sure the scare over her little sister quelled a bit of her enthusiasm as well.” Lavender nodded.

“Cedric still looks like he’s going to give it his best.” Seamus noted.

“Well, let’s hope he makes it.” Harry agreed.

The screen that was suspended over the pitch had a three-way split screen, each section showing the progress of one of the champions.   
The maze looked rather creepy—it was high enough, it dimmed the already failing light, and it seemed to press in on all sides the further in they went.   
Krum suddenly cried out and staggered, flailing for a moment.

“Spell effects seem to have been added as obstacles…oh, he’s gotten out…still looks a bit shaken though.”  
“Fleur seems to be getting turned around”

Indeed, the French beauty was beginning to look a big claustrophobic as the hedges seem to press in, ready to swallow her whole. She pushed forward, feeling for an opening, but she couldn’t seem to find one. Finally, frustrated, she blasted a hole through the nearest hedge and crawled through it, only to get nearly swallowed halfway through as the hedge began repairing itself. Finally, scratched, disheveled and sweating, she emerged, and stumbled on.   
Cedric, meanwhile, had hit a spelled area much as Viktor had—he appeared to have been blinded, to judge by the moment of panic on his face, and how he waved his hand in front of his eyes a few times.   
Viktor seemed to be making good time, but then suddenly something large leapt out at him as he went to turn a corner.

“Oh! It’s a troll!”

Viktor kept it back with fire while he tried edging around it. The troll, though obviously frightened of the fire, didn’t appreciate being threatened much, and tried getting Viktor with his club. The troll was gigantic, and had a very thick, long club. There was a tense several minutes while Viktor dodged, and the hedges in the area got torn apart. Viktor rolled out of the way of a particularly violent swing, and managed to spurt a beach ball sized fireball at the thing and make his escape while the troll was flinching and stumbling backwards. 

“Oh no! Cedric!”  
“What is that thing?”  
“It’s a graphorn, they’re supposed to be really dangerous.”

Indeed a large grayish purple animal with two sharp, wicked looking horns was charging at the Hufflepuff boy. He froze for an instant and started backpeddalling while trying to stun the thing.

“It’s got magic resistant skin! Run!”

Cedric of course, couldn’t hear anyone’s shouted advice. You could see him wracking his brain while trying not to panic. He cast a spell at the ground in front of the thing’s feet, which made it stumble, he seized the moment and got past it, nearly leaping over the thing, which tossed its head as he passed, and caught him with one of its horns. He stumbled for a moment when he landed, but he kept his head and tore around the corner and the next and the next, hoping it wouldn’t follow him.

“Whew! Good thinking there.”

Fleur had hit the spell effect areas, and was currently stumbling around, dazed and disoriented while trying to undo whatever it was that hit her.  
Viktor continued on, and cast the ‘point me spell’, trying to get his bearings.

“Look at the ground…it looks like he doesn’t even notice!”

Vines had crept out of the surrounding hedges and were stealthily winding around his legs while he was distracted. They must have tightened or something, because he suddenly realized he was half-wrapped already and struggled for a moment, before going still and hitting the vines with carefully applied flame spells, which caused the vines to loosen and retreat.   
Cedric was battling another plant, though his seemed to be trying to bite him, not strangle him. Fleur went around a corner and her eyes widened in fright and she stumbled back as a spider, that had to be at least five foot across dropped down from above and tried to grab her. She started casting stunners, but they seemed to be having no effect, and the thing was fast.  
Ron whimpered and paled—he was terrified of spiders, and one that size was his worst nightmare come true. 

Fleur’s face was getting paler and tenser, but she suddenly seemed inspired. She cast another spell and the spider flipped and landed on its back. She cast another stunner at its exposed underbelly, and this time the thing went limp. She wasted no time getting away, though she edged around the thing, keeping as far from it as she could get. All three champions looked around nervously as the maze began rearranging itself. All three looked disoriented by the time the hedges stopped moving. They started forward, and Fleur immediately fell afoul of another spell effect, and floated up to hover, flailing in midair. Cedric nearly got caught by the same vines that Viktor had fallen afoul of while standing there disoriented, and Viktor found himself facing a sphinx. 

A sudden gasp went up through the crowd. Viktor had gotten past the sphinx, and the cup could be seen in the distance when he traveled on…but two acromantulas were closing in a high speed from either direction. Krum ran for it, and had to dodge as the acromantulas nearly got him. He kept them both in sight, and began backing away, chancing glances over his shoulder every so often to gauge how far he still had to go to get to the cup, but then sharp vines shot out of the base of the hedges and fouled his feet, sending him tumbling to the ground. He burned away the vines and rolled to his feet, but his ankles were torn and bleeding, and he seemed unsteady on his feet.

“Venemous tentacula…oh, this is not good.”

Fleur had gotten down and then ran across the troll. She ripped her hair out of its bun and started dancing, and edging past the enraptured troll as she did so. The troll tried to grab her, but she darted off running…sadly, the troll was in hot pursuit.   
Cedric stumbled towards the sphinx and halted when it presented its riddle.  
One of the acromantulas jumped on Viktor, who went down with a pained cry. The acromantula then rippled oddly, and Viktor crawled out from under it, grimacing and shaking off spider guts. The second acromantula, seeing an easier meal in reach, ignored Viktor and jumped on the other spider to start devouring it. Viktor stumbled towards the cup just as Cedric rounded the corner. Viktor grabbed the cup and disappeared.   
   
Viktor reappeared in front of the maze, to the cheers and adulation of the crowd. Fireworks began going off overhead, and the tournament staff moved in to retrieve the remaining two champions. Viktor was bruised, bleeding, covered in spider guts, wobbling unsteadily on his feet, but he still looked triumphant as he held aloft the cup. The rest of the Durmstrang students in the crowd, as well as Viktor’s family, and various Bulgarians who’d come to view the tournament, all surged to their feet and started roaring, clapping and stomping their feet.

Even Ron was clapping—he didn’t doubt the foreign boy had earned his victory…

He froze in mid-clap, and his face went slack and blank, as he realized that, at some point Hermione had darted out of the stands and ran towards the maze, to leap on Viktor, who caught her, swept her up, and kissed her like his life depended on it. When Viktor set Hermione down, she was flushed, dazed, disheveled, and her face was red as a tomato; the crowd’s cheers turned to wolf-whistles. 

The rest of them turned to look at Ron, who was standing frozen and still, and staring at the two of them as though the whole world had stopped making sense.   
Cedric and Fleur came into view, and they all busied themselves clapping for the remaining champions—Ron’s devastation was too raw; it seemed sort of indecent to stare.   
Dean and Seamus each grabbed one of Ron’s arms to get him moving when everyone started back to the castle. For all that he’d been pouting and raging and bitching since the holidays, now he just seemed hollow, and sort of depressed—like there was no fire left in him to get angry with.   
   
“Ouch.” Neville sighed as they watched them go.

“I can’t help but be angry at Hermione about all of this.” Ginny muttered, as she watched her brother with worried eyes.

“That doesn’t seem very fair. It’s not Hermione’s fault she’s ready for dating and Ron isn’t.” Luna remarked. “Girls mature faster than boys, that just the way it is, when you add in that she’s a year older than he is…well, they’re out of sync right now. He’s still rather immature…Viktor’s not.”

“He’s also a fit, muscled, quidditch playing, eye-candy bit of man-meat with an exotic foreign accent.” Harry pointed out.

Ginny sputtered and looked at Harry aghast, while Neville snorted and gave him a _look._

“He certainly is.” Luna agreed. “I’ve quite enjoyed watching him work out in the mornings.”

“Ron has many fine qualities, but Luna’s right, they’re out of sync right now. Hermione’s hormones are playing porno soundtracks in her head. Ron is stuffing his face, whining, and obsessing over quidditch. I’m pretty sure that while he knows Hermione is a girl, that information is still pretty academic at the moment, and of no real import to him. She’s his buddy, who nags too much, but that’s all.” 

“I think he’s starting to clue in.” Luna disagreed.

“Well, we know he feels gutted, annoyed, betrayed and angry…but does he realize what it means? That I’m not yet sure of.”

“I’m kinda with Harry here. I’m not really sure if Ron quite gets what he’s so pissed off about…well, he might be starting to understand, after seeing that kiss, but before then? No, I think he was pretty much clueless—he just knew he was pissed off.” 

“I don’t think any of you are giving my brother enough credit.”

“Gin, when you told him he should have made her his girlfriend before Krum snatched her up, he looked at you like you’d grown a second head, like he couldn’t imagine what you were talking about. He’s not an introspective guy in the least.”

“Yeah, everything’s on the surface with him. If he’d realized he was pining because he liked her, everyone around would know it.” Neville nodded.

“We do know it.” Ginny pointed out.

“Well yeah, we know it, but he doesn’t know what we know.” Harry replied.  
“And we don’t know because he knows, we just know.” Luna added.

“You two are giving me a headache.”  
“We aim to please.”   
 

There was a big celebratory feast that evening. The Tri-wizard cup was displayed proudly at the end of the Slytherin table, where the Durmstrang contingent had been seated all year. The boys of Durmstrang were in high spirits, and Viktor sat in the center, every inch the conquering hero, with Hermione snugged under one arm, still pink cheeked, but looking pleased. Cedric and Fleur looked sad, but relieved the competition was over. 

The kids of the Melting Pot had put together three giant gift baskets for the champions. They were filled with samples of all the posters, photos, and memorabilia they had made for the booths at the tournament, a copy of the recording of the "History of the Tri-Wizard Tournament" puppet show, and a commemorative booklet detailing the 'non-violent student protest of 1994' which included photos of the protest angels and stills from the play they'd put on. They had a few of the different souvenirs they had made that hadn't gotten sold out, so those that hadn't gotten used in the gift baskets were handed out to the foreign students and headmasters, along with the leftover "limited edition" programs.   
The Hogwarts students were all looking a bit peeved about this state of affairs, but that was derailed when Harry stood to address the hall as several other students started handing out tickets to the Hogwarts student body, while still others were laying out an array of leftover souvenirs and booklets on the front edge of the head table where they could be seen by everyone.

"There are more Hogwarts students than we have leftover souvenirs, so we'll be holding a raffle. Take a ticket and if your number is called, you can come and pick out something from the selection you see here."

Draco had volunteered to oversee the drawing, though he'd demanded a dragon statuette in payment. Happily, there had been one leftover--a Welsh green--so his price had been easily accommodated.   
Professor Snape was one of the raffle winners. He chose the rebellion booklet as his prize, mostly because it was right there by his seat and he didn't have to exert himself any to get it. He could be seen reading through it throughout dinner, with professor Lupin and Headmaster Karkaroff reading over his shoulders, much to his annoyance.    
 

"I just realized something. Our OWLs start tomorrow. Blimey."

"I know, I'm starting to get stressed. I just know I'm going to forget everything. It always happens when I take tests. I look at the paper and my mind goes blank." Lavender sighed.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Think of it as a written game of Interrogation rather than a test."

"I can try I guess. Does anyone know what the first exam is going to be?"

"Charms, I think. Written in the morning, practical after lunch." Harry replied.

"Transfiguration is on Friday, Herbology Saturday, History of Magic is on Sunday, DADA Monday, Runes Tuesday, Arithimancy Wednesday, Divination Thursday, CoMC Friday, Potions Saturday, Muggle Studies Sunday, and Astronomy Sunday night." Hermione listed.

"What! They're making us take tests on the weekends?"

"Yes, Ron. Each of the written tests you get a couple of hours to finish, and it takes a long time to get through all the practicals, so they're having one test per day. We'll still have the late afternoon and evening, and you'll have a free day Tuesday and Wednesday since you're not taking runes or arithimancy, and you'll have most of Sunday as well since you're not taking muggle studies either. Stop complaining."

"Yeah, some of us will be in tests for the next week and a half. Count yourself lucky." Neville complained.

"You're not taking divination or muggle studies either." Hermione said slowly, as though she thought Neville might be a bit dim.

"I'm still trying for the OWL, so I have to take the test."

"Yeah, Nev and I studied on our own, remember?" Harry agreed. "Most students aren't given bloody time travel to take all the classes. We've been doing things the old-fashioned way. Why do you think we came up with Interrogation? It was to make sure we stayed on track with where we needed to be." 

"Is everything you do so self-serving?"

"That's not the way I'd have phrased it. I'd have said sensible. You know though, even if it was self-serving, it was also beneficial to everyone else--including yourself, so I'd stop complaining if I were you."

"You're both going for twelve OWLs." Hermione suddenly said.

"Uh, yeah. I thought that part was already clear." Neville answered while eyeing her strangely. Hermione bit her lip worriedly and then suddenly ran off to speak to professor McGonagall. She seemed mildly hysterical as she stood there, waving her arms at the woman.

"What's that all about?" Dean wondered.

"She dropped divination and muggle studies, remember? She's just realized we'll beat her if we manage to get all twelve. She's demanding to take the last two tests." 

"Mental, that one, I tell you."

 

 

At breakfast the following morning, several students had their charms books or notes propped near them on the table, so they could do last minute studying while they ate. Not everyone was doing such last minute cramming.

“The charms OWL starts in just a few minutes! Don’t you think you should be studying?” Hermione said pointedly.

“No. I either know what I need to or I don’t. Worrying myself sick and trying to stuff a few last facts in my head at this late point would be pretty useless. I’m going to eat breakfast, then I’m going to take my test, and then I’m going to forget about it until I get my results.” Harry shrugged.

“How can you be so calm? These tests will decide our future!”

“I know, but jeez people, come on—between the endless games of interrogation, the in-class revision we did over the last few weeks, endless practice in the Melting Pot, the supplementary reading, side projects and portrait lectures, we’re as prepared for these tests as one can reasonably expect to be. Stop worrying and just go in there and do your best.”   
 

 

When breakfast was over, everyone was directed to one of the larger classrooms there on the ground floor—a large, cavernous room that went back a good distance. It was filled with individual desks and chairs spaced equidistant from one another. They weren’t allowed to take anything into the room but themselves, and special anti-cheating quills were handed out to everyone. The examiner tapped the stack of papers at the front of the room when everyone was ready, and they handed themselves out across the room, landing face down on the desk. 

“Ready, everyone? Very well. You have three hours. Raise your hand if you finish before the allotted time, and someone will be around to collect your test paper. Begin.”

Harry stayed calm, and went through the whole test, answering everything he could on the first run through, and then went back to add details. He had been absolutely right about everything they’d done being good preparation—he remembered a lot of these questions from their interrogation games, and a few of them had come up during the cunning artificer’s presentations—not to mention he’d used quite a few of them at different times. If all the tests were like this, he might not only manage his twelve OWLs, he might manage twelve O’s!  
   
His hand was cramped and throbbing by the time the bell sounded. Hermione was trying to scribble in a few last points before her paper was collected—from what he could see from here, each and every page was covered, front and back, in small cramped writing.   
Everyone was rubbing their hands as they left the room, but overall spirits seemed to be high.

“You know…I think I did pretty good.” Lavender admitted.   
“Oddly enough, I think so too.” Ron echoed.   
“See? We’re smart, we’re prepared, we can do this!”   
“It’s already lunch time, geez.”  
“Thank goodness, I’m starved.”  
“Practical afterwards…and we have a week and a half of this to look forward to.”  
“Don’t remind me.”   
   
The second day of testing was transfiguration—written test in the morning, and then in the afternoon, they were lined up outside the classroom set aside for testing to await their turn—alphabetical order, same as yesterday. Hannah Abbot was lucky—she was always first, which meant she was able to just get her test done and be on her way. Blaise Zabini had to lurk in line for the whole block of time set aside for the practical exams awaiting his turn. He learned his lesson yesterday—he made himself a stool and brought out a book to read while he was waiting. 

“Potter, Harry”

Harry made his way into the room. Much as yesterday for the charms practical, there were several tables at the far end of the room, each with an examiner behind it. Harry headed for the empty table at the far end of the room when his turn came. 

“Ah, Mr. Potter, I’m quite looking forward to this. I remember your father fondly, and he was quite gifted in the subject. Are you ready? Then let us begin.”

There were a variety of materials on the table, he was made to transfigure them each into something different, then into different materials, different sizes—buttons, goblet, gravy boat, pincushion, full service tea set, small furry animal. 

“Excellent, excellent. Full marks, I’m thinking—if you did as well on the written portion.”

“Tell me something sir…is there extra credit?”

“Extra credit? What do you mean?”

“Well, I just completed a long-term transfiguration project recently…”

“Oh?”

“Animagus training.” 

“Animagus! At your age? Do tell! And you’ve completed it you say?”

“Would you like me to demonstrate?”

“Yes, by all means.”

“I’d better move back a bit, my form is rather large.”  
   
He was glad most of the room was empty, or it would have been difficult to make the transformation—he supposed he might get better with practice, but at the moment, he still ended up taking up a lot of room, even if he didn’t want to. Ah well, it was still a bonafide transformation, and that should be worth something.  
It got easier each time he did it—the first time had been the worst. No matter how you tried to prepare yourself for it, there was a part of you that panicked when your legs melded together and disappeared, and your arms turned into wings, and shifted to your back, and your hair started turning into feathers and your skin into scales.   
He was glad the transformation time was getting shorter each time he tried it—it just felt beyond odd, the whole process. His legs melded together, and he stretched, and elongated as his arms shifted position and then began changing and his face protruded, and his teeth became long and sharp and antlers sprouted from his head. The first time he’d done it, the whole sequence had taken a couple of minutes. He still hadn’t gotten the knack of the instantaneous transformation that McGonagall, Sirius…and even Tom could boast, but he was getting there. 

He flexed his body and coiled himself so he’d take up less room once the transformation was done—it still felt both very wrong and very right to move this way—both at the same time; animal instincts versus the human mind and sense of self was a big reason many people never managed the transformation; they simply found it too difficult, or just too unnerving. 

The other exams had fallen to a halt when he’d begun transforming, and he could hear a murmur behind him as the students still in the hall caught wind of what was going on. The examiners were gaping as much as the students were—but with good reason. He was not only young—human transfiguration hadn’t been covered yet, and wouldn’t till NEWTs—but his form was also both impressive and eye-catching. 

He was a feathered serpent, with antlers like a deer…and he was brightly colored like a rainbow. That was enough by itself, but he was also a very large rainbow colored feathered serpent with deer antlers. He was at least fifteen feet long, and had a bit of girth as well; he also had a huge wingspan. He had a crest of red feathers on his head that trailed down his back and ended with a couple of longish feathers on the very tip of his tail. The feathers on his wings were a banded rainbow, and the scales on his body did the same, one color fading into another representing the whole spectrum. It was a pretty form, it was impressive and eye-catching, and he could fly under his own power without need of a broom or carpet if he chose…but it was such a distinctive form, he would never be able to creep around unseen, and everyone would always know it was him. It was kind of a mixed bag, really. Oddly enough, Tom had the same form, but his crest was blue and his colors were reversed from Harry’s.—he really was yin to his yang, it seemed.   
He was jolted out of his musings when everyone in the room broke into applause. Harry, feeling whimsical, bowed—at least, as best he could given his current form.

“Can you fly?” Sally-Anne, who had been at the table next to him, asked curiously.

Harry nodded.

“Could you show us?” 

Harry shook his head and carefully spread his wings so they’d understand why—his wingspan took up nearly the whole room.

“Ah, yes, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it? Still, well done, Mr. Potter, well done!” his examiner said with real delight.

A camera began flashing--Morag MacDougal, who had been waiting to take a picture of not only his transformation, but Hermione's face when she saw what he'd done. Everyone had heard her snidely lecturing him about how he was going to fail because he'd been slacking off and wanted to see her horror when she realized how very, very much she'd misjudged the situation. 

"He couldn't have! It's impossible!" he heard her wailing. He gave a big, toothy grin and slowly started changing back.  
 

He almost regretted revealing his ability when he was forced to spend most of dinner answering questions:  
“How long did it take you?”  
“Did it hurt?”  
“Was it hard?”  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hermione demanded shrilly.  
“Can you fly?”  
“What are you called, anyway? You’re not an occamy, because you don’t have legs.”  
“Are you poisonous?”  
“Do you have special powers?”  
“Did you get to choose your form?”  
On and on and on it went. Oddly enough, except for that one demand, Hermione wasn’t questioning him for once. Personally, he thought she was sulking because she’d just saw all hope of getting the highest score in the transfiguration OWL for the year go out the window. The girl seriously needed to relax, really she did.   
   
   
   
The final OWL test of the year was astronomy. The students let out a spontaneous cheer when it was over, and then went to bed, only to gather early the next day at the Melting Pot to decompress.

“I said before I was getting nervous about NEWTs in three years. I can admit now I’m absolutely terrified—they’re supposed to be three times worse than the OWLs are.”  
“I know, have you all seen the seventh years? They’re all walking around like zombies, and you figure most of them have, what, five tests max?”  
“You’re right, that is terrifying.”  
“It’s three years away, don’t borrow trouble. Let’s focus on the fact that we’re done our OWLs, and we have the whole summer coming up to celebrate.”  
“Yeah, might as well get the celebrating out of the way before the results come in, just in case.”  
“Too right…though I should be fine, honestly—so long as I get more than the twins, my mum’ll be happy, and that’ll be easy to do—they only got three each.”  
“The same?”  
“No, different. One got charms, potions, runes, the other got transfiguration, arithimancy and herbology.”  
“Your mum’s looking at it all wrong, really. They function as one person more often than not, and I’m sure they’re both equally skilled in all the fields they got OWLs for. She should have considered it six OWLs.”  
“What are you going to do when your baby sisters get older? They’re twins too.”  
“Huh, yeah…I dunno, the twins have always been the twins, but now that there’s two sets…I guess boy twins and girl twins? We’ll figure something out.”   
“How does everyone think they did?”  
“I feel pretty confident in my twelve.”  
“I feel confident in my seven…and I may actually get all ten.”   
“I feel mostly confident, but divination is iffy. I don’t think I have a seer gift of any sort, so we’ll see. So long as I managed an A, I’ll get the OWL.”  
“I’m pretty sure I failed. I spent like twenty minutes telling my examiner he was going to meet an ugly fellow and describing him…then I realized I was seeing the examiner’s face in the ball! I’m pretty sure he realized it was him I was describing too…”  
“I think I flubbed runes…I got Eiwaz and Ehwaz mixed up.”   
“History is a bust for me I think…there was hardly anything on the bloody test about goblin rebellions, and that’s practically all Binns talks about!”  
“We told you to bone up on history in interrogation, but you always played subjects you knew the answers to already.”  
“I didn’t want to lose!”  
“I’m pretty sure my pincushion wiggled, and my hamster just sat there…I didn’t practice the animate-inanimate transfigurations as much as I should have.”   
“I got nervous and created a flock of flamingos that bowled over my examiner.”   
“My forgetfulness potion was the wrong color. I think I added too much knotgrass.”   
“Mine was the wrong color and it was the consistency of mud. Don’t feel too bad.”   
“My venomous tentacula bit me and lost some of its teeth in my arm. I was still a little woozy the next day, and I think I messed up on the DADA exam.”

“Enough about the OWLs already—printing club, are we ready for the fair?”

“We’ve printed up helpful booklets on how to build a catamaran, and a photo-journey yearbook of the past school year.”

"Art Club?"

“We have our usual selection of artistic works, plus miniature replicas of our protest angels.” 

“We have music cubes with the concerts for the year, and ones with ‘protest music’ on them.”

“We have tiny music boxes, ley-line finders, and magical compasses for sale, as well as the originals we based them off of for display, with the usual history and helpful instruction booklets.” 

“We’ll be presenting ‘Emeraude and Gilthwaite, a comic farce in three acts’ as the puppet show this year.”

“And of course the choir will be performing as usual, and the Weasley twins will be providing a fireworks show and selling some prank items they’ve created.”

“It sounds good. Hard to believe the year's almost over."  
   
 


	12. Party in the new world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School is over for the year. Everyone gathers for the end of year fair, and Hogwarts gets a visit from some of Tom and Harry's old friends.

It was early morning, just after breakfast, but the Melting Pot was already a bustling hive of activity. 

The tournament was over, classes were done for the year, as were the end of year exams and the OWL and NEWT tests for the fourth and seventh year students. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you looked at things, the students were still stuck at Hogwarts until the third of July, making that year's summer vacation the shortest ever. It was really quite vexing. There was a whole new world out there ripe for exploration, a whole settlement to get set up and put to rights, and they were languishing there without anything in particular to do for the next few days. Happily, the end of year fair had become a much-looked-forward-to tradition over the last couple of years. Now that all the official school business was out of the way, it was time to kick back, relax, and party a bit. 

It was this particular event that was the cause of all the bustle that morning. The culinary arts club was busy making treats (as were the house elves back in the main kitchens. They always got so upset if they felt people were stealing work that was rightfully theirs.) The art club and the cunning artificers were loading up things for display and sale, as were the fledgling potters and glassmakers. The printing club was laden down with pamphlets, magazines, and books and the photography club with candid photos, team/group photos (chess, gobstones, the choir and so on), as well as copies of the live action stories they'd filmed. There were even cubes with highlights from the new wireless station, featuring Steven Cornfoot (better known as Mr. Mellow), Harry and Fawkes' duet, the Slytherin barbershop quartet, Girl Power--a trio of Gryffindor girls, the Librarians (quintet of Ravenclaws), the impromptu musical acts done by the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students as well as Hogwarts own choir, Pansy and Draco performing a harpsichord/organ duet, and the comedy stylings of the Weasley Twins and Lee Jordan. 

While the students were trooping out in groups to spread out across the lawn and set-up, and Dumbledore was lingering in the entryway eyeballing everything that was being carried out and occasionally getting in the way, Tom Riddle wandered out from the direction of the kitchens looking rested, impeccably groomed and dressed to the nines. He was sauntering as though he was both completely at ease, and had a perfect right to be there. Dumbledore was so aghast at his temerity he actually spluttered before getting a hold of himself. 

Tom just grinned slightly, raised a mocking brow and drawled "Albus… Lovely day, isn't it?"

Dumbledore drew himself up, a thunderous expression began to form on his face, but then…

"Oh, Tom! I didn't know you'd be here again! I thought you left!" Katie Bell said cheerfully as she walked by with an armload of set pieces for the puppet show later.

"I did. I went and had a look around at the settlements. Your parents send their regards, by the way."

"Hey, Tom. Back again, huh? You staying for the fair?" Ron asked as he wandered by.

"That was the plan. I've heard a lot about them, and wanted to see one in action."

"Hi, Tom!" Hannah Abbot greeted next, while Susan Bones blushed and giggled beside her. "Oh, this is Susan, by the way. Susan Bones."

"Pleasure to meet you, miss Bones."

"It's nice to meet you." Susan answered shyly, while elbowing Hannah who was grinning at her mischievously. The Hufflepuffs both suddenly grimaced, as Ginny Weasley was suddenly in their midst, placing a hand on Tom's arm while tossing her fiery hair and batting her eyes. 

"You can go to the fair with me, if you'd like"

Dumbledore's eyes widened in alarm as he had a sudden vision of dozens of red-haired, parselmouth Slytherin babies overrunning Hogwarts if he allowed Miss Weasley to continue. He grabbed Tom by the arm and yanked him bodily away from the girl, before pulling him towards the stairs. 

"Sorry, I need to speak to Mr. Riddle for a moment. Do run along, ladies." 

 

Tom sighed as they reached the top of the stairs and started towards the headmaster's office.

"You can stop dragging me, you know. I can actually walk on my own. I've been doing it for some time now." Tom grumbled as he twisted his arm from Dumbledore's grip. "Now, why do you find a group of little girls so terrifying that you felt you had to kidnap me?"

"Weasleys breed like rabbits."

"Not with me they don't. Snakes eat rabbits, if you'll recall. Apparently they also eat puffskeins, house elves if they can get a hold of them, garden gnomes…several of the strawberry dwarves complained about it. They were rather peeved to lose their butlers. Happily, that at least probably won't be a problem anymore--Nagini did say they gave her indigestion."

"Lemon drops" Dumbledore muttered to the gargoyle. It hopped aside, leaving the stairway revealed.

"I keep telling her she can't just go around eating any old thing she can get a hold of, but she was just like _if they're right there, of course I'm going to eat them._  
There's really no reasoning with her when it comes to food. Luckily, I found a bunch of wild piglets that I dumped in Lucius' garden. Hopefully she'll stick to them for a while so I don't have to deal with all the complaints any longer."

Dumbledore sat down in his chair, feeling comforted by the symbols of his power and authority around him. Tom Riddle flopped into the chair across from him, after making it fancier and more comfortable.

"I don't know what the hell I'm going to do with the piglets when I move out though…I don't have an enclosed garden, and right now the dwarves are tending them since they don't want to lose anymore butlers. Maybe I'll just have the house elves 'port one over once a week or so? Yes, that would probably work… Unless some of the dwarves want to come live nearby? One of them did mention they were getting a bit crowded where they were. Hmm…I should look into that. I really can't be bothered with gardening or tending pigs..."

Dumbledore's face twisted into a scowl the longer Tom spoke. He'd heard about the strawberry dwarves, and their garden gnome butlers, and that young Mr. Malfoy's pet puffskein had been eaten…and yet everyone who had told the various stories had failed to mention that the reborn dark lord was right in the middle of all of it. He'd heard most of it from Remus Lupin, for Merlin's sake! Remus was one of his minions, not Tom's, as was Sirius Black! It was infuriating! Unless… Yes, perhaps not all was lost. They might have decided that he was too busy to be bothered with trivial things and opted to keep an eye on him themselves. He was going to have stern words with them about keeping important information from him. How was he supposed to make informed decisions if no one told him anything?

"So, Albus, did you have anything you actually wanted to talk to me about, or did you simply want to keep me from randomly procreating with an underage girl in the middle of the entryway?" He snorted then. "And really, the entryway? The headmaster's office would have been much more comfortable, had that been my intention…not to mention all the role-play possibilities"

There was some quickly muffled perverted snickering from several of the headmaster's portraits. Dumbledore looked briefly flustered, but soon smoothed his face into a stern and disapproving visage.

"Tell me Tom…how many hundreds of innocents had to die for you to be a teenager?"

"One…though he got better. Believe me I was as surprised as you seem to be." 

 

 

“What iz everyone doing?”

“Setting up the annual Hogwarts’ end of year fair.”

“Zher is going to be a fair?”

“Yup. There will be display booths, booths selling things, a couple of shows, a sign up sheet for boat rides on the lake, snacks, drinks, music, dancing, and a fireworks display at nightfall.”

“Do you need help setting up?”

“It would be appreciated. If you want to help, go see Neville there, he’s got the list of what all needs doing.” 

Harry realized none of the foreign students was paying attention to him, they were all staring at something in the sky.

“What is that thing?”

“That’s a sky bison. AANG! OVER HERE!”

They all watched, rather entranced, as Appa pulled in and landed with a thud and a groan right nearby.

“Harry!”

“Wow, look at this place!”

Harry laughed delightedly as Aang pounced on him, followed shortly afterwards by Toph, Katara, Suki and Sokka. 

It took some time to make introductions all around, mostly for the newcomers’ benefit; most of the young witches and wizards there knew all of them from Tom and Harry’s memories, even if they’d never met them before.  
Once that was done, set-ups for the fair were finished up, and the newcomers taken for a tour of the castle.   
 

“This place is, without a doubt, the weirdest place I’ve ever been.” Sokka decided.

“I think it’s amazing!” Aang gushed enthusiastically. Personally, Harry was surprised the boy hadn’t developed whiplash, with the way he’d been craning around trying to see everything at once.

“It is amazing…especially when one considers it’s a school, not a city.” Katara muttered, still feeling a bit shell-shocked.

“Most of our homes and places are pretty modest places, really. Hogwarts is something of a unique structure, even among our people. My and Tom’s ancestors and two others, built this place a thousand years ago, and even over such a course of time, it’s still something special. Want to head back outside? I think we’ve covered most of the public areas. Everything left is classrooms, or the teachers private quarters. You’ve seen Gryffindor house—the other three student dormitories are similar but with their own color scheme.”

“Yes please. This place is confusing to my earthbending, and it’s kinda giving me the heebie jeebies.” Toph said uneasily. “Not to mention all the people I can hear talking but can’t sense…and don’t get me started on the ghosts.”

“If it makes you feel any better, most wizarding places won’t be anywhere near as upsetting to you; like I said, Hogwarts is kind of unique in many ways.” 

“I smell food.” Suki realized.

“Yeah, the fair should be starting up.”

He led everyone back outside to the grounds, which were now filled with milling people, booths, food and music.

“Roasting meat! My favorite!” Sokka said after inhaling. 

“Yeah, there’s a couple of barbecue stations set up serving shish kabobs—which is basically roasted meat and vegetables on sticks.”

“Wow…there’s so many people.”

“Well, there’s all the usual students of Hogwarts, plus all the foreign students who were visiting us this year, who you all met earlier, and the Board of Education, which was here for testing the fourth and seventh year students, plus all the folks from the village down below, and a couple of extras who showed up here rather unexpectedly, which reminds me, Aang, that I need to introduce you to all of them. They’re all airbenders. There’s only six of them here. The rest will have to be rounded up later. They, and in some cases their children, will be going off to wherever you’ve chosen for training everyone.”

“The Southern Air Temple.” Aang replied. “Airbenders, really? How many altogether?”

“Thirty five.” 

“Wow. It’s a good thing I found that herd of wild sky bison!” 

“You did? Really?”

“Yeah, that’s right, it was after you two left. They’re smaller than Appa, and their markings are a little different, but they’re definitely sky bison! Wow…thirty-five more airbenders. I might actually see the temples filled in my lifetime.” 

“There are also fourteen waterbenders, but like the remaining airbenders, they’ll have to be rounded up later. I was thinking you, Katara, could take charge of them. They’re all from cold regions, so they shouldn’t be too put off by spending time at the south pole.” 

“Wow…that would be a tremendous help to us. Some of the folks from the North Pole moved down there, but they only sent a couple of water benders; they kept most of them for themselves. I’m sure between myself and Master Pakku we can get them trained up in no time.”

“Harry! There you are, come on, it’s almost time.”

“Ah, gotta go. I’m part of the choir. Spread out, enjoy yourselves. I’ll catch up with everyone later.”   
 

 

"Well, where do you all want to look first?"

"Food. The meat is calling me." Sokka answered immediately.

"I hope they have more than just meat." Aang grumbled.

"I can't believe how many people there are here. There's more people here than in our whole village, even now." Katara said quietly. "And that's not even counting the village we passed as we came in."

"Actually, it looks like most of those folks are here now." Toph gestured vaguely towards the road winding up the mountain, on which small groups of people could be seen trooping up. 

"Mum! Dad!" They heard a little boy squeal excitedly before running towards the crowd. A few other kids did the same and soon there were several joyous reunions taking place, while the rest smiled and continued towards the fair. 

"Oooh, they have boat rides!" Aang suddenly exclaimed, before darting off towards the lake. "Come on, everyone!" 

"It does look like fun…odd boats though. Sokka? You want to try too?"

"Suki…the meat is calling me!" Sokka whined. 

"Oh, Sokka, we can always eat later!" Katara huffed in reply.

"Look, if you ladies want to go ride a boat, do so. I'm getting some meat."

"Go ahead. I'll stick with Snoozles. I'm pretty hungry myself." Toph offered. Katara and Suki exchanged a glance and waved, before heading down towards the lake where Aang was waiting impatiently for someone to join him. 

"Heh. Appa seems to have gained a fan club."

"Huh?" Sokka turned to look at the sky bison and found him surrounded by the youngest students, who were petting him and climbing all over him, while others fed he and Momo bits of fruit. By the look of it, a few of them were braiding bows and bells into Appa's fur. The big lug bore it with patience and only a bit of grumbling. He might look kind of scary at first glance, but he was a big softy, really. 

"Ah, man, that smells good."

"So, you're Harry's friends, huh? Nice to finally meet you. We heard a lot about you, of course. In fact, I'll bet you guys are world famous, among our people at least." Millicent Bulstrode greeted them both gruffly from where she was helping mind one of the grilling stations.

"We are?"

"Yeah. We watched Harry and Tom's memories of their time here, as did most of the folks Tom went visiting to explain about what was going to be happening. You're pretty good with that sword of yours. Wanna have a go later?"

"I'd totally say yes, but I kind of have a girlfriend, and she'd murder me." Sokka squeaked.

Millicent snorted and then guffawed loudly. 

"I'm betrothed. Your virtue is safe from me. I meant do you want to spar later? I've been training with a sword for a few months now and I'd like a chance to test myself against someone I've never sparred against before." she explained once she'd stopped laughing. 

"Oh." Sokka tittered embarrassedly. "Uh, sure. Man, my girlfriend is going to be thrilled to meet you. Other than her and her warriors, we didn't meet any girls that fought with weapons."

"There's six of us here at Hogwarts, and a couple of the Frenchies can handle a rapier, but they're mostly tournament players--they do well with rules of engagement, but fall apart in a melee." Millicent replied with slight contempt. She noted Toph was grinning cheerfully in her general direction. 

"I think I'm going to like you. Toph Bei Fong, Earth rumble champion."

"Millicent Bulstrode captain of the Raging Valkyries."

"The Raging Valkyries?"

"Me and the other girls taking sword lessons banded together to train and named ourselves that. A lot of the guys didn't take us seriously and tried giving us a hard time, and a lot of them refused to fight us properly…until we started regularly kicking their collective asses, that is."

Toph grinned in utter delight. "Very nice to meet you Millicent. I think we'll be great friends." 

Millicent grinned back and they shook hands. Sokka shivered in foreboding, though he fixed a grin on his face when the two girls turned their attention back to him.

"Ah, enough chit-chat. I'm guessing you folks are hungry?"

"Meat!" Sokka said cheerfully.

Millicent snorted again and grabbed up a couple of skewers for each of them, slathered them with sauce and threw them on the grill.

 

Katara, Suki and Aang joined them a short while later at the table they'd chosen for themselves, after finishing their boat ride and getting some food for themselves. 

"Have fun?"

"Yeah, that strange boat was kind of fun, really. Everyone here is so friendly…and they all seem to know us already." Suki agreed.

"From what Millicent said, they do. She said they 'watched Harry and Tom's memories" of their time with us." Toph spoke up.

"Yeah. Don't ask me how that works. I never heard of anyone watching memories before. Sounds creepy, if you ask me."

Katara blew on her stick of grilled meat a bit to cool it, while her eyes roamed the grounds. 

"Katara?" Aang questioned, seeing how distracted she'd become. 

"There's Tom now." Katara replied absently "Over there with the really old man with the beard."

"Yo! Tom! Over here buddy!" Sokka yelled loudly, while waving his arm.   
"Giggles! We were wondering where you were!" Toph called out a moment later. 

"Sokka! Toph!" Katara hissed under her breath "Everyone's looking at us!"

"So?" Toph scoffed, before hopping out of her seat to go greet their friend. Sokka wiped his mouth and swallowed before following, along with Suki. 

Aang darted ahead to greet their former companion. Aang, being Aang, chose to glomp the older boy, much as Suki and Toph had--Sokka had gone with a more manly handshake and backslap. Tom, though not a tactile person, bore it all with surprising grace, lightly embracing the girls and even rubbing Aang's bald head affectionately, while giving them all a small smile. 

"SO! Been awhile, eh?" Sokka said cheerfully "How've you been?"

"Good, can't complain. Why don't you let me grab something to eat and I'll join you. Where's Harry anyway?"

"He said he had to go do something with the choir."

"Oh, I guess they'll be performing. I'll be right back."

"Alright." They turned back to their table and reseated themselves. Dumbledore stepped forward drawing their attention.

“Ah, you must all be the guests I was told flew in so unexpectedly this morning.” Dumbledore said with a twinkle. "I'm Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts. Who might all of you be?"

Sokka blinked, surprised the man didn't already know who they all were, given that he'd been told earlier they were famous. Tom returned with a plate laden down with food and saw them together and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. In all fairness, he supposed he really couldn’t blame the man too much for wanting to keep an eye on him—the last time they’d seen each other, after all, he was missing most of his soul and running amok across the length and breadth of Britain with an army of dark wizards and murderous dark creatures. It was still annoying.

“Everyone, I see you've met Albus. Albus, this is Sokka and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Warrior Suki of Kyoshi Island, Earth Rumble Champion Toph Bei Fong of Gaoling, and Avatar Aang. Would you like to join us?”

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at him, surprised but not displeased by the invitation.

“It’s very kind of you to offer.” He agreed, before taking a seat.

“So, how do all of you know Tom here?”

“He and Harry traveled with us and helped us end the war with Fire Nation. They told us all of you would be coming here when they left last year. I had a dream a few weeks ago that you were all on your way, so I gathered up everyone…well, not Zuko, but he was busy—apparently, the Fire Lord can’t just up and leave whenever he wants. He says hi, by the way. I don’t know if I remembered to mention that earlier.”

“You didn’t, but it’s good to know. I’m not actually surprised—that’s one of the drawbacks of being the guy in charge. His uncle really should have taken over and let him have a few more years to run loose.”

“He’s there as an advisor, but he really didn’t want to be the Fire Lord. Rumor has it, as soon as he thinks Zuko’s ready to handle things on his own, he’s going to go open a tea shop.”

“I think I remember him saying something to that effect—it’s his dream, apparently.”  
   
“So…you’re all…benders was it?” Dumbledore asked, getting the conversation back towards stuff he was interested in. 

“Me and Suki aren’t, just them… and Zuko—but he’s not here.” Sokka replied.

Dumbledore managed to control his shocked reaction—Tom Riddle of all people, consorting with muggles and speaking to them like friends!—but Tom could still see it in his eyes.

“Toph is an earthbender, Katara is a waterbender, Aang started out as an airbender, but as the avatar, he’s master of all four elements. Sokka is skilled with the club, boomerang and sword, and Suki is skilled with fan, sword and unarmed combat.”

“Hey! I can do unarmed combat too!”

“I never saw you use it, just weapons.”

“Miss…Suki, was it?” Dumbledore spoke up. Suki nodded to show she was listening. “Your clothing…”

“It’s the uniform of the Kyoshi warriors.” She replied, with the air of one who answered that particular question a lot.

“Oh, it’s not the native dress of your people?”

“I suppose that depends on how you look at it. Our island was once the home of Avatar Kyoshi—she was the avatar two cycles ago. This was what she wore during her time as the avatar. We, the Kyoshi warriors, have worn the same costume ever since.”

“They function as sort of the army and police for their island.”

“Oh? There are a lot of you then?”

“Just eight of us—we’re a rather small island.” Suki laughed. 

Dumbledore engaged all the kids in light conversation, and asked a lot of questions. Tom let him—Dumbledore’s curiosity was like a force of nature, but more than even that, the kids were all nice kids—good people, innocent really—the sort of people Dumbledore claimed he liked; which meant they would be rather ideal as character witnesses for him. Dumbledore still held enough sway that he could cause him problems should he choose to make a fuss about the fact that he was once Lord Voldemort. 

Killing people as a means of solving problems hadn’t led him anywhere good in the past—and he was actually trying to turn over a new leaf. He’d prefer to not have to kill Dumbledore if it wasn’t absolutely necessary—and what a surprise it was to realize that.   
 

“Hey, something’s happening.”

“Ah, our fine choir seems to be ready to perform.”

The choir got into position on the platform Toph had constructed earlier, and began to sing. They must have done a sonorous or something of the sort, because their voices rolled over the crowd and quieted down those who were still talking, and then continued on to echo among the mountains. 

“It’s beautiful…but what on earth are they saying?” Suki wondered.

“Yeah, you guys and your weird ‘we all speak a different language thing’.” 

“Actually, no one speaks that language anymore, it died out a long time ago. It’s old English, invoking the blessings of the lady of magic on future endeavors, by the sound of it. Given its rather martial air, I would guess it was once a song to rile up warriors before heading into battle.”

“Where does Madame Perks find these things?”

“The house elves showed Harry a stockpile of old sheet music and such buried in a storage room. Since then, the choir members have been digging through it, looking for interesting things to perform. I believe a ‘committee to recopy and preserve the cultural heritage of Hogwarts’ formed up among the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs not long after. Given the subject matter and the length of time involved, and the character of the two houses involved, the committee ended up splitting into two groups. The Hufflepuffs concentrated on copying and preserving the music before the archive crumbled to dust. The Ravenclaws got distracted tracing the origins of the different songs. The Hufflepuffs finished, and from what Harry tells me, plans are already in the works to have the fresh copy of the music printed and sold, with the proceeds, minus the cost of printing, going to Hogwarts for the scholarship fund; he was worried that with the move, at least a few more students than usual would find themselves without visible means of support for a few years, and need to dip into the fund to finish their schooling.”

 Dumbledore blinked and then looked concerned.

“That was a good thought on Mr. Potter’s part…but I don’t know that the addition of such revenue will be enough to cover all the students—only five of the muggleborn student's parents came across…”

“He’s also going to making his fund for supporting Frank and Alice Longbottom’s care available to the cause, now that they’re out of the hospital and recovering. Most of what he made available is still there.”

“I wasn’t aware he’d ever done such a thing.”

“He’s a private person, and he’s not one to advertise his good deeds. He inherited from the Lestranges; and as they were the ones who put the Longbottoms in the hospital, he felt it was only right that their wealth go to seeing to their care. Before that, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were actually footing the bills—Bellatrix was her sister, after all.”

Dumbledore pursed his lips and said nothing. As far as he was concerned, that had been purely a politically motivated action, not one prompted by compassion or guilt. It had been actions like that which had allowed Lucius Malfoy to escape Azkaban for his crimes as a death eater.

“So far as housing goes, for the moment, those students whose parents came across will be going with Aang here to the Southern Air Temple to learn to use their surprise airbending powers. For those who are left, I believe a committee was set up to canvas the students to see who was in need of housing or assistance, and their findings will be used to see about finding places for them and setting up a stipend to help whatever families take them in.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but what are they saying now?” Katara asked.

Tom and Dumbledore focused on the choir, and Dumbledore smiled. “I recognize that one. It’s a song that was popular in my youth. It’s a lovely song, really—about warm, summer days, balmy summer nights and first love.”

 “What are they? There by the edge of the forest?” Katara suddenly whispered.

A group of odd young women, with hair that looked like leaves dappled with sunlight, and skin the color of bark, had gathered by the edges of the trees to listen to the music, and dance.

“Dryads. They’re tree spirits. Ah, and there are the nymphs of the meadows—they’re the ones who look like flowers.” Dumbledore replied.

Aang’s eyes lit up with wonder, and he bobbed out of his seat, and over to the fairies as though blown there by a stray breeze. The fairies drew back in alarm and hid behind the nearest trees, but Aang stood there smiling and being non-threatening. Slowly they crept out and studied him. A new song started up and one of them began to dance again. Aang watched her for a moment and then copied what she was doing. One by one the other fairies joined them.

“Only Aang could pull that off.” Tom snorted in disbelief. “Normally they’re so shy they’ll bolt at the first sign of a human taking an interest in them. I wonder if it’s because he’s the avatar or because he’s Aang?”

“Probably a little of both. Twinkletoes isn’t exactly scary, is he?” Toph laughed. She sighed then a bit wistfully. “It’s times like this I wish I could see the way everyone else does. Those spirits or whatever they are, are even lighter on their feet than Twinkletoes is—I can barely sense them over there.” 

“So get closer; maybe your bracelet will help.” 

Toph hesitated, then shrugged and began to make her way over to where Aang was dancing with the fairies. 

She stopped halfway, once she realized she was making the spirits nervous, and sat down on the ground, putting both her hands and feet down on it. She was close enough she could ‘see’ them anyway. 

Tom could see Dumbledore looked confused.

“She’s blind. She’s an earthbender; she uses her earth sense to ‘see’. As near as we’ve been able to determine, it works sort of like an earth sonar. Harry made her a bracelet with an embedded supersensory charm so she could tap into her earth sense to some degree when not on land—she’s truly blind then, and we spent a lot of time in the air flying, and on ships”

“Often with people trying to kill us while we did so—there was a war on.” Sokka added.

“Yeah, Toph’s normally so capable, you can forget she’s blind very easily; it was always disconcerting to see her helpless.” Katara agreed.

“How fascinating.”

 Tom looked around, taking in the sights, sounds and smells. All around, there were people and creatures of both the old and new worlds, talking together, laughing and enjoying themselves. Aang was dancing with fairies, and they were trying to coax Toph into joining them, a bunch of first years, Luna Lovegood, and Gabrielle Delacour, were petting Appa and Momo and feeding them bits of fruit…and a couple seemed to be braiding bows into Appa’s hair… Heck, there were two muggles sitting on the grounds of Hogwarts, happy as you please, and it didn’t seem such a terrible thing—though it would have to be something they looked into—tweaking the wards so random muggles couldn’t just stumble across them; it rather defeated the point of scattering the schools far and wide if they could do so whenever they pleased. Maybe an ill-intent ward rather than an outright muggle repelling charm? They didn’t want to offend the muggles they were friendly with in this new world; that would probably cause more problems than it would solve… Ah well, a worry for another day. He was too relaxed, too excited, and dare he say it, too happy at the moment to worry overmuch. Even the itch that had been with him all his life that told him he had a destiny he needed to get working on had quieted down. He was truly at peace for the first time he could ever remember.

It was a perfect start to their life in the new world. 

 

"Hey guys!" Harry approached the table after the choir was done its performance, sucking on something and carrying more of whatever it was in his hands. "I've got a treat for all of you."

"Oooh, what is it?"

"Popsicles. Frozen juice on a stick. I've got lemon, pumpkin, two strawberry and cherry here. Take your pick."

The headmaster snatched the lemon popsicle before anyone else had a chance to steal it.

"Mmm. These are pretty good."

"So, Sokka, I hear the Raging Valkyries have challenged you. Good luck with that. They'll probably all want to get in on it. They haven't been training as long as you, but they're very determined and feel they have something to prove, so don't underestimate them." 

"Raging Valkyries?" Dumbledore repeated sounding disturbed.

"The girls from the sword training classes. They banded together, gave themselves a name and made it their mission to prove themselves to the male chauvinists of the world." Harry laughed. 

"I believe Belvina Bulstrode mentioned that. She was initially rather horrified as she was afraid Millicent was endangering her betrothal by carrying on so, but she settled down once she realized Vince was one of her training partners and didn't seem to mind." Tom agreed.

"Oh, look, the puppet show is about to start. You all should go see it. They're doing a comedy this time." 

"Puppets? Cool. I haven't seen a puppet show in a while." Aang cheered as he and Toph came back from dancing with the fairies.

"Where are your new friends at?"

"They ran off into the forest after the music ended. Hey, what's everyone eating?"

"Popsicles. You can get one at the stand over there."

"Get me one too." Toph called after him. 

Millicent and her girls showed up to get Sokka when the puppet show was over. Word had spread that a challenge was happening, and a crowd gathered to watch. Millicent had changed out of her robes and now wore a belted tunic that reached halfway to her knees and a pair of loose pants. She garnered quite a few appreciative glances from the crowd--her months of training had slimmed and toned her until, instead of the bulky, overweight girl that some had once speculated probably was at least part troll, she was now a lithe, muscled amazon of a girl. She'd grown out her hair, which now hung in a thick black braid down her back, and with help from Pansy and Daphne she'd gotten rid of her unibrow and faint moustache. She was looking a lot less she-troll and more Xena warrior princess these days, something many took note of…usually right before noting she also had a big, hulking boyfriend who was tall, large and muscled and he had an equally large best friend and they were watching the boys watching Millicent and taking names. Millicent herself was oblivious to most of this, she was focused on her opponent and ready to do battle. 

"Alright people, get ready! Keep it clean, no permanent maiming or death. Begin!" 

Sokka and Millicent readied their stances, hefted their swords and locked eyes. When given the signal to start they came together furiously, wooden swords clacking. After the initial volley where they tested one another out, Harry found himself wondering again about Master Piandao's supposed apprentice, Fat. Sokka, after a year's training with Harry, had easily bested the man when they'd battled. Now, Millicent was pushing Sokka more than Fat had managed and she had less than a year's training. Either Piandao was a really lousy teacher, or the guy just wasn't very good. Actually, it was probably simpler than that--his primary function was as manservant/butler. Maybe Piandao had just agreed to give him the occasional lesson in order to keep his services. 

Back and forth they went, pushing and testing. Sokka eventually won, but he had to work for his victory--he probably hadn't been training as much the last year since the war was over, where Millicent was training hard every day.   
Sokka helped Millicent up. She was disappointed but a good sport about things--she'd wanted a challenge and had gotten just that. She wasn't going to begrudge him the victory.

"I'll beat you next time." She warned as they shook hands.

"Next time?"

"Of course. You don't think I'm giving up. I'll keep training, and next time I'll win." 

"I look forward to it." Sokka managed. 

He wasn't looking forward to it--he'd lost more of his edge than he'd realized over the last year and had to work for his victory as it was.   
Sokka was swarmed by some of the boys from the sword club, all of whom had recently suffered defeats at Millicent's hands and were eager to congratulate the guy who'd ended her embarrassing winning streak. 

"That was great, mate!"   
"Excellent!"

"You sure showed her!" Ron chortled gleefully. He'd been against girls being in the sword club. He was even more against it now that so many of them seemed to be regularly winning bouts.

"Wanna put your money where your mouth is, Weasley?" Su Li, a Ravenclaw and one of the six 'Valkyries' demanded. 

"Oh, lay off. We're having guy time here."

"Chicken."  
"Bok, bok, bok." 

"You're not going to take that, are you?"  
"Yeah, Ron, show her who's boss."  
"Go on, mate."

Ron initially tried to slip away, but gained confidence from the other boys' encouragement. He smirked, took the wooden sword from Sokka and swaggered out to meet Su Li in the center of the ring. 

"Same rules--no permanent maiming or death. Begin!"

Unlike with Sokka and Millicent, it was very easy to see the victor after the first few feints. Ron was going to be humiliated, and would likely be hell to live with until school let out, but Harry thought it would be good for him. He kept telling him he couldn't just swing the sword around a few times every few weeks and expect that to be enough. Su, Millicent and the other girls trained an hour each day and longer on the weekends--against the dummies, against each other, against the other boys in the club, against him. They also ran, swam, did calisthenics, tai chi and meditated. They were serious, focused and dedicated to improving. Ron couldn't be bothered to put in the effort required and then wondered why he didn't just effortlessly win every bout. Maybe having his loss be more public would give him the kick in the pants he needed to either take his training seriously or give it up altogether. 

"Winner! Su Li!" 

The Valkyries cheered and whistled. Ron's face slowly suffused with color and a pissed-off grimace began twisting his face. Harry caught his gaze and warned him with his eyes that he wouldn't tolerate a tantrum. Ron grit his teeth and managed a very reluctant handshake before stomping off to have his tantrum elsewhere. 

"Good job, Su."

"I'm next! Any challengers?" Ginny demanded as she swaggered into the ring.

"I weel fight you." One of the Beauxbatons girls, a half French/half-Spanish beauty named Adelita replied. She transfigured her robes into something more fight-worthy and took her place in the ring. She had lost to Millicent the last time she'd fought, and wanted to prove herself.

"You know the drill, Begin!"

Ginny smiled, confident in an easy win. She'd seen the 'Frenchies' fight before, and they were very rule-bound. She was willing to fight dirty. It was in the bag.   
Unfortunately for Ginny, Adelita had learned her lesson after her bout with Millicent. When Ginny kicked a faceful of dirt in her eyes she spun away to clear her vision, and then closed with Ginny again to knock aside her sword and punch her in the face. It was pretty downhill from there. Adelita eventually disarmed Ginny, but Ginny lunged at her and then went down in a furious tangle of scratching nails and flailing arms and had to be separated. 

"Winner, Adelita!" 

Suki stepped up next. "I'll give it a go. Any takers?"

Luna stepped forward and grabbed Ginny's lost sword. "I'll fight you. I'm Luna by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Suki, likewise."

They traded furious blows, back and forth across the ring, but then Luna's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, a dragon." she said in her dreamiest voice. 

Suki spun to look--she'd never seen a dragon before; they were already long extinct when she was a child. 

"I don't…oh. I can't believe I fell for that." she sighed as Luna's sword poked her in the back. 

"That was fun. I'm thirsty, how about you?"

"You lost?!" Sokka shrieked. 

"Oh, shut up." Suki grumbled as she and Luna wandered out of the ring together. 

"I like your dress by the way."  
"Thanks…yours is interesting as well."

"Winner, Luna." 

"I will step forward now as challenger" A large Durmstrang boy offered.

"How about a pairs tournament? We have two Valkyries left, and I know of at least one more fencing student. What do you say, mademoiselle?" Harry asked the remaining Beuxbaton girl who'd shown up to train with the sword club occasionally. 

"Very well, I weel fight as well." she replied as she stepped forward after transfiguring her outfit. 

Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones stepped forward as well to meet them. They all shook hands and readied themselves. 

The Beauxbatons girl, a lovely witch by the name of Jacinthe, she had misunderstood the term 'pairs tournament'. She had assumed that she and the Durmstrang boy, a strapping lad by the name of Olaf, would be partners in taking down the two Hogwarts girls. Apparently, what it actually meant was that you could fight whoever you wanted. Jacinthe was taken out very quickly by Hannah, who then helped Susan, who was having trouble holding off Olaf. He was quite good, and managed to hold off the pair of them for quite a while, but he eventually succumbed. Susan and Hannah then turned on one another. 

"Winner! Susan Bones!" 

"Woohoo!"  
"Yeah!"  
"Valkyries rock!"

Jacinthe was a little pouty at how things had turned out, but tried to be gracious. Olaf was a good sport.

"You were really good. Had Jacinthe taken one of us out, you'd probably have won. I know we only beat you because we double teamed you."

"Is still valid. You do good. Do not apologize."

"That's sweet of you."

"I am being somewhat hungry. Would you like to join me?" Olaf wondered, while staring intently at Susan, who blushed a rather spectacular pink under his gaze. "Um…"

"Oh, I think I see Neville calling me. Have fun! Oh, you should take him by the desert cart. She made most of the stuff in there. She's an excellent cook." Hannah added cheerfully to Olaf before giving a cheery wave and flouncing off.

Susan stared after her in consternation and turned back to Olaf. "Um…sure. I'm a little hungry." she agreed. Olaf grinned and held out his arm, every inch the gentleman. Susan giggled and wrapped her arm in his. The fair was turning out way better than she'd expected. 

As the afternoon wore on, a bonfire was lit on the lawn, and several of the villagers, plus a few students brought out instruments to entertain the crowds. When it started towards twilight, the villagers headed back to Hogsmeade as none wanted to travel down the mountain in the dark. Once full darkness had fallen, the skies overhead were lit up by a fireworks display, courtesy of Zonko's prank shop, supplemented by a few inventions of the twins. 

Dumbledore had intended to show the visitors the door, but he arrived too late. The house elves had already prepared the remaining guest quarters that weren't being used by the squib parents of muggleborns who had come across with them, and he found Harry and Tom showing them to them.

"It was lovely of you all to visit, but I'm afraid we won't be able to host all of you for long. School will be letting out soon, and the students and teachers still have a lot to do before then. I'm sure you understand."

"Oh, well, we don't want to impose." Katara was quick to assure him.

"I'm sure Aang wants to take charge of the new airbenders in any case." Harry added, while slanting an annoyed glance Dumbledore's way. He knew very well it would be no trouble to host them for a few more days--school was already done with for the year.

"You'll be leaving with them, I assume?" Dumbledore added rather pointedly to Tom. "After all, you're not a student here either."

"That was the plan. After we collect all the airbenders, we need to gather up the new water benders and see they get to the South Pole for training." Tom replied blandly.

"You all just got here too." Harry grumbled.

"Well, if you'll all excuse me, I'm probably going to head off to bed. Goodnight, children." 

Tom frowned irritably at the man, who just twinkled at him in return. 

After Dumbledore was gone, the rest split up to head off to bed as well since they'd be heading out early the next morning. 

"I'll walk you back to your dorm." Tom offered once the others were in their rooms.

"You don't have to--you'll have to come all the way back down here to go to bed."

Tom opened the door the room of requirement provided and ushered Harry inside, closing the door firmly behind him.

"I'm not staying in a guest room. I don't trust Dumbledore not to try assassinating me in my sleep. I'm going to stay in the Room tonight, where I know he can't get in unless I let him."

"Probably a wise precaution." Harry sighed. "I heard he drug you off earlier to talk to him. Is he going to be making trouble for you?"

"Yes and no. He doesn't seem to have any plans to have me summarily arrested at the moment, he's peeved as all hell that apparently lots of people have known I was running around for some time now and no one told him. If you saw him earlier, following me around, you'll realize that he isn't exactly going to make it easy for me to just get on with my life."

"Nosey old bastard."

Tom opened the door, revealing the seventh floor. They were only partway down the hall when Tom slowed to a halt. 

"How much longer till curfew?"

"Not long, about ten minutes or so."

"I'll guess we'll have to make them count." 

"Huh?"

Tom opened the door to his left and revealed a broom closet. 

"Indulge me. I never did this when I was in school, though I certainly chased a lot of people out of them while I was a prefect. I'll admit I'm rather curious what the appeal was."

"Oh, if it's in the interest of education" Harry joked while tugging lightly on Tom's tie "then by all means."


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last day at Hogwarts. The students and teachers gear up to face life in the new world.

"Can you believe her? The traitor." Ron grumbled at breakfast the next morning.

"Ron…considering she snogged him in full view of the whole crowd at the third task, I'd think you'd have been unsurprised to find them snogging behind a tree at the fair yesterday. You and Hermione weren't dating, which means she's free to date someone if she wants to. She's dating Viktor, he's a perfectly nice guy. Their relationship might go nowhere, in which case you'll then be free to step in and try your luck, or they might stay together and eventually get married, in which case you're just going to have to look elsewhere. Either way, at the moment, they're dating and you need to knock it off." Neville sighed.

"Some mate you are. You're supposed to be on my side." 

"Mate, we've been listening to you whining about traitors and dark wizards for bloody months now. It needs to stop." Dean told Ron sharply. "There are other girls, lots of them in fact, and they'd probably suit you better. You and Hermione have nothing in common, you fight all the time and drive everyone around you barmy. Just knock it off already." 

Ron, red-faced, looked around at the rest of them at the table and found no sympathy anywhere. He hunkered down over his food scowling angrily and then stalked off once he was done eating. 

"Wow. Don't you think you were all a little hard on the guy?" Sokka wondered.

"No." the remaining Gryffindor boys replied in unison. 

"Well, you asked." Toph chuckled. "This was good, whatever it was. The crunchy things tasted sort of like pig-sheep bacon, but not quite…it's like something was missing."

"That would be the sheep. Our bacon is made just from pig."

"What…goat pig?"  
"cow-pig?"

"Just pig. We have sheep, we have pigs, we have cows. We don't have sheep-pigs, or goat-cows"

"No one has goat-cows. That would just be silly."

 

 

"Number eight!”

Hermione Granger peeked her head around the door and grimaced at the three fourth years seated in a row at a table near the back of the room, and at the students of different ages who were either seated at a desk filling out papers, or being interviewed by one of the three fourth years. She pulled her head back, re-read the sign on the wall beside the door, and then sighed, before heading in.

A young girl stopped her before she’d gotten too far in. She was a Slytherin, second year if she wasn’t mistaken—Aria Greengrass, she thought her name was.

“Here, fill this out, take this number. When it’s called it’s your turn.” 

Hermione sighed and sat down at one of the desks to start filling out her paperwork. It was mostly straightforward—name, age, house at Hogwarts, OWL and NEWTs—whichever she had at the moment, talents, likes and dislikes, dreams and plans for the future.  
She filled out everything as best she could and then sat waiting until her turn, while trying not to fidget. 

“Number twenty seven!”

She glanced up, and bit her lip—of all the people to be interviewing her, it just had to be him, didn’t it?

She hesitated a moment, wondering if she even wanted to bother—but she didn’t have a whole lot of choice, did she? Ron wasn’t speaking to her at the moment, which meant the rest of the Weasleys were being distant—she could hardly impose on their hospitality under those circumstances. Viktor and his family had invited her to stay with them, but she was hesitant to impose on them either. She and Viktor, for all that they’d been ‘dating’ for the last six months, still didn’t know each other that well, and she didn’t know his parents at all, having only met them for a short time on one occasion. She still had three years of school ahead of her, and she didn’t want to get sidetracked from her education, or rush into anything with Viktor too quickly. She had explained how she felt to them, and Viktor’s mother at least seemed to approve of her reasoning—she rather thought it had made the woman warm up to her a bit; she’d been rather standoffish before that. All she could figure is that the woman had been afraid she’d been after her son for his fame and money, and not for himself. She honestly needn’t concern herself on that count—she wasn’t even really a quidditch fan, let alone a Viktor Krum quidditch-groupie-fangirl. She was wasting time, wasn’t she? Well, might as well get it over with.

She went to the front of the room and sat down in the empty seat.  
   
“Miss Granger.”

“Mr. Potter.” 

He held out his hand for her paperwork and passed a pamphlet towards her once he’d taken it. “Here, read this while I go over your paperwork. It outlines the various options we’re offering, both for stipends and for repayment options. This is not a charity, this is a helping hand being offered to anyone who might have found themselves in difficulty given the move, and it is fully expected that you will in turn, once you’ve established yourself, be there to offer a helping hand to someone else who might be in difficulty in the future.”

Some of the tension leeched out of her—he was being professional, and had given her something concrete on which to base her evaluation and from which to generate questions. Maybe this had been a good idea after all. 

There was actually a surprising number of options being offered. The first was simply a small sum each month of summer to help offset costs of feeding and housing an extra person for the summer—all that was really required was a host family willing to take you in-- as well as a small sum to help offset costs for schooling—there were a lot more people who were going to need access to the scholarship fund than normal, and it wouldn’t be able to cover everyone satisfactorily—so enough was being offered to halve costs to reduce the strain on the scholarship fund. That was being offered primarily to those who hadn’t yet completed even their OWLs, and would only be offered to anyone else if there was enough left over in the discretionary fund once the younger students had been taken care of. 

The second option was on the lines of a student loan—a lump sum that was yours to use to handle all expenses—it even gave a helpful outline of what it would cost to rent a room for the summer at an inn with meals included, plus the cost of uniforms, books, supplies and tuition for a year at Hogwarts. You could get a loan for that amount—you had to reapply each year—with the understanding that it was expected to be paid back within ten years of graduation—and it would be, as the goblins would be garnishing your wages to make sure of it. 

The third option was a summer internship—room and board would be provided, as would tuition and supplies for the remaining years at Hogwarts. That was only being offered to those who had completed OWLs or higher. There was no need to repay that one—your expenses were considered your ‘wages’ for the summer…but you also had to sign a five year post graduation employment contract with the company…

Decisions, decisions…  
   
“Alright, this seems to be all in order. Have you had a chance to look over your options?”

“Yes…the internship…what would I be doing exactly?”

“Well, that depends, actually, on where you’re needed. We have a lot of projects in the offing, and we need personnel to get everything off the ground. Chances are you’ll be doing a lot of different things each summer. You might be pulled in to help construction, clearing land for construction, setting up farms or helping to harvest them. You might end up part of an exploratory team sent out to explore this new world in more detail, you might end up part of a team setting up trade negotiations with different marketing districts in different countries, you might end up staffing a reception area and getting vacationers settled, you might be a tour guide, you might end up running a shop, or buying and selling supplies for a shop, you might end up cooking or housekeeping in an inn, you might end up working in a nightclub, or helping out in a hospital or clinic. If you’re with us long enough, you might end up being a researcher, teaching assistant or laboratory aide in the R and D department, or helping out with the Warlock’s council. You will very likely end up doing all those things at least once over the next three summers and during your five year employment contract.”

“I’ll take that option.” 

“Excellent. Take this. Read over everything carefully, fill it out and sign it, then nick your thumb and press it to the box there. It will disappear once you’ve done so, so don’t do that unless you’re ready for the contract to disappear. Go see Colin in the next room to have your picture taken for your id badge and your permanent employee file. Also take this—it has your portkey to the main base of operations. Don’t lose it, or the date and time listed in the bag with it—if you miss the portkey, and the goblins have to track you down….yeah. Don’t lose it.”

Hermione gathered up everything and stumbled to the doorway on the right which had a sign next to the door saying ‘Summer Intership ID Photos. Please take a number.”   
She reached into the box and pulled out a rectangle that said 012, and headed into the room. 

Dennis Creevey was there; he directed her to stand in line, and then beckoned the person at the head of the line—Elaine Mulder, a muggleborn sixth year from Hufflepuff—to go forward behind the curtain at the other end of the room. 

Finally Hermione’s turn came. She was directed to sit in front of a blue screen and had her picture taken by Colin Creevey, before being directed to the door behind him, which led back out into the hall.   
   
 

“Enter.” 

“Headmaster.”

“Mr. Potter. What brings you here?”

“The transition committee just finished going over things with all the orphaned muggleborn. This first group” he handed over a list “all have host families that will be taking them in. A lump sum will be deposited with all the host families to help offset costs over the summer, and an amount listed here will be deposited to the Hogwarts accounts July 31st to offset costs for them—the rest will have to come out of the scholarship fund, but this should help. These” he handed over another paper “have all taken out loans for a lump sum to cover expenses. You’ll have to make arrangements with them to receive payment for tuition. This last bunch” he handed over a third list “have all signed up for a summer internship program. Their full tuition will be deposited to Hogwarts account on the 31st, and they’ll receive their books, supplies and uniforms before heading back here in the fall.”   
   
Dumbledore looked over the lists and nodded. 

“Do all these children have somewhere to stay over the summer—I notice you only mentioned host families for the first group.”

“The group that took out loans are all sixth or seventh years—they were planning to move out on their own before too long anyway. I believe their plan is to get a room and a summer job to stretch their loans as far as it’ll go and then get permanent employment and permanent residence once they’ve graduated. The interns will be getting room and board as part of their employment, and they’ve already signed five year post-graduation employment contracts. Once they’ve graduated, they’ll have a choice of keeping their lodgings at work or finding a permanent residence of their own, but while they’re in school, they’ll be staying as part of a group on the worksite.” 

Dumbledore nodded and set the lists aside to deal with later. 

“I notice Mr. Riddle left.” 

“He went to check on the settlement, and to help round up the new airbenders and waterbenders so they can head out for training and what have you. There’s also some meetings about the new infrastructure of our settlements which can’t be delayed for too much longer as they’ll directly impact a number of people’s jobs. Arthur Weasley, for example—his Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office is pretty much useless for the moment. We have no need for a squad of obliviators anymore…really, with the end of secrecy, large parts of the Ministry of Magic are now defunct. I know a lot of this was already hashed over during the year leading up to the move, but I’m a bit behind on what all was decided, exactly. My role in things was to be the anchor for the whole endeavor, and I was more concerned with making sure my own home, family, friends and of course Hogwarts, made the journey in the first place than I was about worrying what happened after.” 

“It sounds like we all have a very busy summer ahead of us.”

“I’ve no doubt the next several years will be very busy—just getting all of us here was the easy part; making it possible for us to stay and live and prosper will be the hard part, and that’s not all going to be completed overnight.” 

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully as Harry rose. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some last minute packing to do before we leave tomorrow.”   
   
   
When Harry got back to the common room, he found a bunch of worried looking students milling around.

“Is there something wrong?”

“It just really occurred to all of us…we’re supposed to be leaving tomorrow—Durmstrang and Beauxbatons already has, but they have a magic ship and flying carriages…we’ve always gotten to and from school on a steam engine train! You’ve told everyone that the wizarding settlement is across the ocean on a whole different continent! How are we supposed to get there?”

“On the train, same as always. We actually already had this conversation, the night we all arrived.”

“And the tracks are floating in the ocean, I suppose?” Hermione scoffed.

"I don't actually remember much of that. I was so tired I was just kind of spaced out."

“Ah. Alright, then let me set your minds at ease. The tracks are in a tunnel of wizard space, same as they’ve always been. The Hogwarts Express, its tracks and the station were never in quite the same place as the world around them back home. It’s on the same line as the corridor that connects all the floos together, or the expanded inside of a trunk…it’s there, it has presence and reality, and witches and wizards can access it easily—but it was never quite ‘there’ in the way that muggles think of it, and because it has always existed in its own space just outside normal space, it was easy enough for the two ends of the track to just anchor themselves in place in a new configuration once we arrived here. We’ll all head down in the morning and find the station in the same place its always been, and we’ll take the train, which will probably be showing us an underwater view rather than the passing English countryside as it normally did, and we’ll get off the train on platform 9 ¾ just like we always have—only instead of being nestled in the heart of downtown London, it will probably be freestanding in a field somewhere. I forgot to inquire. Everyone’s parents, on the other end, have had a week to find the location of the station and work out the logistics of getting everyone home. The tracks, train and tunnel have already been inspected and cleared for use. Just do everything like you normally would, and there’ll be no problem.”

“What about those of us who don’t have a home anymore, and have no one coming to claim us?” Hermione asked worriedly.

“For those looking for rooms and the like, you can either stay in Hogsmeade rather than getting on the train, or you can take the floo once you arrive at 9 ¾ to the Leaky Cauldron. Those who are taking part in the summer internship program, your portkeys are set to go off an hour after everyone is due to arrive by train—a bit of leeway in case the trip takes longer than expected. They will transport you to your lodgings for the summer, and you’ll be getting dinner once you arrive.”

The whole house heaved a big sigh of relief and headed off to finish packing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends book 4. 
> 
> Book five both needs editing and is currently incomplete, so there will probably be delays in posting that one. It deals with everyone settling into the new world, growing up, finding love, finding a purpose--all that good stuff. Family is complicated, the road to true love doesn't run smoothly, and sometimes the paths lead you on are unexpected to say the least. Stay tuned!
> 
> Everyone who left comments and kudos, thank you! You make everything worthwhile.


End file.
